Photos taken during the seizure of the vessel.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana--Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has been released on $100,000 bail following a tense, six-hour maritime standoff on the Demerara River. The midnight operational confrontation culminated with joint services ranks intercepting a vessel transporting WIN opposition members of parliament Tabitha Sarabo Halley, Dawn Hastings Williams and Natasha Singh Lewis at Friendship, East Bank Demerara.
Kaieteur News understands that Singh-Lewis was also released on $200,000 bail after being taken into custody at the Farm Police Station during the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The debacle unfolded just hours after members of the team had returned from visiting communities in Region One, where they met with grieving families and survivors of the recent MV Barima maritime tragedy.
The enforcement action centre stage shifts to regulatory compliance after the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) issued a press release on 26th August, clarifying that based on official records, “neither the fast craft nor Mr. Azruddin Mohamed is licensed or otherwise authorised to operate.” MARAD warned that operating unregistered vessels presents a “serious and unacceptable risk to passengers, crew, other waterway users, property, and the marine environment,” cautioning that anyone operating without proper authorisation faces enforcement under applicable maritime safety laws.
Accounts of how the standoff began differ sharply between state authorities and opposition officials. According to the joint services, a patrol of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard and the Guyana Police Force spotted the “go-fast” vessel proceeding at a “high rate of speed” near the mouth of the Demerara River around 9:45pm on 25th August. Ranks reported that after the vessel ignored siren signals to stop, a high-speed pursuit ensued, ending at a wharf in Friendship. During the chase, security forces reported seeing “a bag being thrown from the vessel into the Demerara River,” prompting ongoing search and recovery efforts to determine its contents.
Conversely, the opposition members of parliament maintain the vessel was already safely docked at Mohamed’s private Friendship premises when security forces arrived, alleging that officers initially cited vague “reasonable suspicion of illegal activity” to demand a search. Over 6,000 citizens watched the encounter unfold via a Team Mohamed’s Facebook live stream when it started before 10:00pm and well beyond midnight.
When occupants requested a female rank to search the female parliamentarians on board, Commander Michael Kingston was captured on the live recording dismissing the request, asserting that “you don’t need a female officer to search females.”
Ranks were seen on video cutting the rope which tied the vessel from the dock and towed it down the Demerara River to the marine wing of the Ruimveldt Police Station.
Although a physical search yielded no illegal items, officers detained the craft citing a lack of documentation. According to a statement released by Mohamed, he refused to sign a prepared police statement without formal detention documentation and was subsequently informed he was under arrest under a broad reference to the “Maritime Act,” though officers on scene reportedly could not cite the specific statutory provision.
Regarding the arrest of MP Natasha Singh-Lewis, the opposition leader explained that she was taken into custody over alleged unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition found during a police search of her vehicle.
WIN clarified that the weapon actually belongs to fellow MP Dawn Hastings, who holds a valid license for it and had stowed her personal effects inside Singh-Lewis’s vehicle before stepping onto the vessel during the Friendship standoff.
Security forces intercepted and searched Singh-Lewis’s vehicle as she was exiting the compound, locating the firearm and subsequently detaining her at the Farm Police Station before her eventual release on bail.
An official statement issued by the opposition condemned the operation as disproportionate, emphasising that “no formal seizure or detention notice has been provided” and that no legal basis under the Shipping Act was cited for either the vessel’s detention or Mohamed’s arrest.
Denouncing the incident as an “apparent attempt to harass, intimidate, and obstruct the leader of the opposition through the use of state power,” the release urged authorities to clarify their actions and prove that state powers “are being exercised lawfully, proportionately, and without political interference.”
Opposition figures expressed outrage over the nighttime operation. MP Amanza Walton-Desir of the Forward Guyana Movement stated she was in direct contact with her colleagues while the boat was being towed down the river, calling on security leadership and the speaker of the National Assembly to ensure ranks act with restraint and political impartiality, emphasising that “the security apparatus of the state cannot be deployed for partisan political purposes.”
APNU Parliamentary Lead Terrence Campbell similarly denounced what he termed the “weaponisation of the police force,” citing Martin Niemöller’s classic poem before declaring, “Knock one, knock all!” ~Kaieteur News~
