Mohameds’ arrest a public spectacle, exhibition of power – WIN

Nov 02, 2025 News

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(Kaieteur News) – The We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party on Saturday strongly condemned the manner in which its leader prominent businessman Azruddin Mohamed and his 72-year-old father Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed were arrested on Friday.

The party, in a statement published on its Team Mohamed’s Facebook page, said that the arrests were “nothing but a public spectacle and an exhibition of power and authoritative attitude under the PPP/C.”

Videos of the arrests that surfaced on social media, showed the younger Mohamed being accosted in front of the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) office on Smyth Street, Georgetown. He was surrounded by a party of masked policemen with firearms who showed up in several police vehicles. The businessman was handcuffed then placed at the back of a police pickup.

Following their arrest, the father-and-son duo were placed before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before Acting Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman following an extradition request from the government of the United States of America. Subsequent to hearing arguments from both sides the men were granted bail in the sum of $150,000 each. They were required to lodge their passports and report to the Officer- in- Charge of the Ruimveldt Police Station every Friday between 13:00hrs and 15:00 hrs.

Azruddin Mohamed said he thought he was a criminal given the manner of his arrest.

“Oh my, the manner that I was arrested, I thought I was a criminal… They had Narine and Sarabo pull up with six, seven vehicles with more than 20 gunmen (police officers) in mask. I thought they wanted to kill me there. I thought they wanted to execute me right there,” he told reporters shortly after being granted bail.

He continued, “So I asked, what is the problem? Because they are the same guys that follow my moves every day, these Special Branch guys, every day they follow my moves.”

Azruddin’s sister Hana Mohamed told reporters outside of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Eve Leary on Friday that “(they) confiscated their phones and as well as the phones of their employees. And I heard that they threw Azruddin Mohamed in the back of a pickup truck on direct orders, and our elderly father in a car.”

The woman reminded that, “Nearly 110,000 of Guyanese citizens voiced their choice on September 1 for their representative, and if this is a deliberate tactic to prevent him from taking that role, then all I can say is that we’re at a very sad state.”

In the statement headlined “Let’s compare President Irfaan’s arrest in 2018 and Azruddin’s arrest in 2025!!!” the party said that to initiate a sneaky arrest of a leader who is also a well-known humanitarian along one of Georgetown’s busiest streets was not just about the arrest of itself.

It was a “calculated act of intimidation, designed to send a political message to anyone who opposes the PPP/C regime,” the party said noting that “The use of over 20 masked gunmen who pointed their firearms in the face of Mr. Mohamed and cameras to initiate the arrest of someone who had offered full cooperation is a clear disrespect of the rule of law.”

Azruddin Mohamed, through one of his lawyers, wrote the Minister of Home Affairs, the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions on October 6, where he expressed his readiness to surrender once the proper extradition request was filed and the legal processes were in place.

“His father, on the other hand was taken in handcuffs from his Lombard Street office. He too, fully cooperated and let the process run its course. Moreover, this PPP/C regime has time and time again used state machinery as a political weapon, reducing law enforcement to instruments of fear rather than justice,” the party said.

Further, the party highlighted that the younger Mohamed, whose party secured the second largest number of votes in the 2025 general and regional elections, was handcuffed and thrown in the back of a vehicle, then whisked away in the presence of his supporters. The party alleges that he was denied calls to his attorneys.

“Mr. Mohamed remained calm and let due course prevail. On this note, Mr. Mohamed’s driver was also unlawfully arrested and placed in custody during which he was chucked in the face in the car while being taken to Eve Leary. This is nothing but a premeditated, concocted plan from the beginning. First, a sitting magistrate was brought to Georgetown to preside over this matter; all cases at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court were rescheduled to facilitate this so-called high-profile matter, and arrangements were in place to whisk the Mohameds out of the country,” the statement said.

WIN said that all operations at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court were at a standstill, with no one being allowed in or out and several masked, armed men paraded the compound.

“Even soldiers were called out to surround the court house. Well, that all backfired thanks to Almighty GOD and the competent legal team that represented the Mohameds,” the statement said.

Further, the party drew a comparison between the manner in which Azruddin Mohamed was treated and the then presidential candidate of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Irfaan Ali who was slapped with 19 fraud charges.

WIN questioned, “Were there masked gunmen? Was there a heavy presence of police and soldiers? Was he thrown in the back of a vehicle like a criminal? Was he handcuffed?”

The party called on citizens to remain vigilant, “and to hold this destructive and criminal-minded PPP government that will lead this nation for another five years, accountable.”

Additionally, the party said that no form of intimidation and public humiliation will be enough to prevent its leader and members from going to Parliament on Monday.

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