GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Oct 31, CMC – The Guyana government Friday confirmed that businessman, Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed, the leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, had been “arrested’ following a warrant issued by a Magistrate of the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
In a statement, the Office of the Attorney General said that on Thursday, the Guyana government received a request from the United States government to extradite the two Mohameds “pursuant to an extradition treaty” between the two countries, which extends to and remains in force in Guyana under the provisions of …the Fugitives Offender Act.
It said that the arrest warrant was issued after a team of lawyers led by Terrence Williams, KC, Herbert McKenzie, and Celine Deidrick, presented to the Magistrate an Authority to Proceed from the Guyana government, accompanied by an Application for an Arrest Warrant as is mandated under the provisions of the Act.
The Mohameds are the subject of an indictment unsealed on October 6, 2025, by a United States Grand Jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida, which charges them with multiple offences, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and customs-related violations connected to an alleged US$50 million gold export and tax evasion scheme.
The indictment alleges that between 2017 and June 2024, the accused conspired to defraud the Guyana government by evading export taxes and royalties on over 10,000 kilograms of gold, using falsified customs declarations and reused export seals to disguise unpaid duties. The indictment further references the attempted shipment of US$5.3 million in undeclared gold seized at Miami International Airport, as well as the alleged under-invoicing of a luxury vehicle valued at over US$680,000.
The statement stated that the investigation into the Mohameds by US authorities is understood to have originated in the mid-2010s, with intelligence and law enforcement cooperation between Guyana and the United States dating back to 2016–2017.
According to the indictment, the alleged fraudulent scheme operated “from in or about 2017” through June 2024.
In June 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Mohameds and their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, citing allegations of tax evasion, trade-based money-laundering, and gold smuggling.
“The government of Guyana was first informed of the ongoing U.S. investigation through official diplomatic channels following the June 2024 sanctions. Reports indicate that U.S. agencies involved in the investigation included the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),” the statement said.
It added that in March this year, the Guyana government “received a comprehensive dossier of evidence from U.S. authorities pursuant to mutual legal assistance arrangements.
“This dossier included documentation relating to gold export irregularities, falsified customs declarations, and undeclared shipments seized in Miami.
“The two Mohameds will now be processed in accordance with the extradition framework set out in the provisions of the Fugitive Offenders Act, as amended, in due compliance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Guyana and all other relevant laws,” the statement from the Office of the Attorney General stated.
CMC/gt/ir/2025.