By NAN Staff Writer, NewsAmericas Now
News Americas, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Wed. Aug. 26, 2026: Guyana’s Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed of the We Invest In Nationhood party, has been released on $100,000 bail following a six-hour confrontation involving Joint Services personnel and a vessel carrying opposition figures on the Demerara River.
Opposition MP Natasha Singh-Lewis was also reportedly released on $200,000 bail after being taken into custody at the Farm Police Station early Wednesday, August 26th.
According to statements from the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard, maritime patrol officers spotted what they described as a “go-fast” vessel entering the Demerara River at high speed at approximately 9:45 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities alleged that the vessel failed to respond to sirens, prompting officers to pursue it to a wharf at Friendship, East Bank Demerara.
Joint Services personnel also reported seeing “a bag being thrown from the vessel into the Demerara River” during the incident. Authorities said Mohamed and several colleagues were aboard the vessel or at the scene, while efforts to locate the alleged bag continued.
Opposition MPs, however, strongly disputed the official account. During a livestream watched by thousands, MPs Odessa Primus, Singh-Lewis and Tabitha Sarabo-Halley maintained that the vessel was already docked when police arrived and denied that a high-speed chase had occurred.
Primus said authorities conducted a complete search of the vessel and those aboard but found no illegal items. “This is harassment!” she declared.
MP Amanza Walton-Desir also raised concerns about the use of state security forces, saying, “The security apparatus of the State cannot be deployed for partisan political purposes.”
APNU Lead Terrence Campbell similarly condemned what he described as the “weaponization of the Police Force against the Leader of the Opposition and my fellow Members of Parliament.”
The confrontation escalated at approximately 1:30 a.m. on August 26th, when Singh-Lewis was arrested after police found a firearm in her vehicle. According to reports, the firearm belonged to MP Dawn Hastings-Williams, who had allegedly left her licensed weapon inside Singh-Lewis’ vehicle before boarding the vessel to inquire about the security presence.
Reports said that after Coast Guard personnel moved the vessel away from the wharf and prevented Hastings-Williams from returning to shore, Singh-Lewis attempted to drive out to meet her colleagues.
Police subsequently searched her vehicle and seized the firearm. The incident and sharply conflicting accounts surrounding it are likely to heighten political tensions in Guyana, with the Opposition alleging harassment and abuse of state power while security authorities maintain their actions followed suspicious activity observed during a maritime patrol.
The opposition leader and fellow WIN parliamentarians had completed a humanitarian visit to MV Barima disaster survivors in Port Kaituma and Mabaruma prior to the arrest.
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