Reports circulated today that Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed could be arrested in connection with the 2021 murder of Ricardo “Paper Shorts” Fagundes and Mohamed said that police surveillance had been stepped up around his residences and places he frequents.
In a post on Team Mohamed’s Facebook page, Mohamed claimed that several Special Branch vehicles had been stationed outside his properties and suggested that the move was politically motivated.
“Four Special Branch vehicles have been stationed at my residences and other locations that I am usually present on a daily basis,” he wrote.
He further alleged that the government was seeking to intimidate him, adding that he was unafraid of any attempt to detain him.
“President Irfaan Ali… can send the entire joint services, police, soldier and GDF to look for me because that won’t scare me. I only fear Almighty God,” Mohamed said.
He also claimed that the authorities were “hoping to unjustly arrest the Opposition Leader that is representing the people.”
No official statement had been issued by the Guyana Police Force confirming that Mohamed was being sought or that charges were imminent.
Meanwhile, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Chief Whip Tabitha Sarabo-Halley also reacted to the reports, accusing the government of attempting to silence its political opponents.
“This obsession the PPP has because they cannot control the Leader of the Opposition should be a wake-up call to all Guyanese,” she wrote on Facebook.
“There is no true freedom. You either cower to the PPP or be forced into silence.”
She added that the government “doesn’t know what to do with a leader who refuses to be pressured into subjection.”
The reports come days after Mohamed’s security officer, Mark Richmond and others, were detained by police as investigations into the March 2021 execution-style killing of gold dealer Ricardo Fagundes continued.
Fagundes was gunned down outside the Palm Court nightclub on Main Street, Georgetown, on the night of March 21, 2021, by heavily armed men who intercepted his vehicle before escaping. The murder remains one of Guyana’s most high-profile unsolved killings.
In September 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs released a summary of the Regional Security System (RSS) review into allegations by Detective Sergeant Dion Bascom regarding the police investigation into the March 2021 murder of Fagundes. The ministry said the RSS found no evidence to support Bascom’s claims that senior police officers accepted bribes or attempted to cover up the murder and concluded that the Guyana Police Force had sought regional and international assistance in the investigation. However, the full RSS report was never made public, prompting calls for its release to allow independent scrutiny of its findings and methodology
The Guyana Police Force has since said the investigation remains active. In recent days, police detained Mark Richmond, a security officer attached to Mohamed, as part of the continuing probe.
In recent times however, police had not issued any statement indicating that Mohamed had been charged or that an arrest was imminent. Kiskadee Watch was unable to independently verify the social media reports or obtain an official response from the Guyana Police Force before publication.
Discussion