U.S. remains committed to seeing Mohameds extradited – Ambassador

Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 February 2026, 22:09 by Writer

The United States (U.S.) remains committed to the judicial process that could see billionaire gold dealers, Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed being extradited to that country to face trial for alleged financial crimes, American Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot said on Wednesday.

“I want to make it incredibly clear that the U.S. government is totally and completely committed to seeing this through. We do not spend tens of thousands of U.S. taxpayer dollars to request extradition when we don’t care about something,” she told reporters on the sidelines of the Guyana

Energy Conference.

Ms Theriot’s comments came against the backdrop of word in some circles that the U.S. now seemed lukewarm to getting the Mohameds extradited to face trial in a federal court in Florida for alleged wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering linked to their gold trading business.

The American envoy effectively ruled out the U.S. government scrapping the extradition request for the Mohameds, following last October’s unsealing of an 11-count grand jury indictment against the duo.

She said the U.S. considered it incredibly important for the extradition proceedings to continue with the hope that the Mohameds can face justice in the United States.

Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman adjourned the extradition committal hearing to February 27 to allow the prosecutors to file submissions for the process to be done by paper committal rather than the appearance of witnesses.

The magistrate seemed reluctant to agree with the prosecution, saying that there was no criminal charge locally.

The U.S. Ambassador hoped that the principal magistrate would “make the right one” when it comes to a decision.

At the same time, she said she was aware of a 15-day period for the Mohameds to exercise their right to appeal. “It’s incredibly important to us that this keeps moving forward. We want to see justice served,” she said.

The Mohameds were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allegedly smuggling more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold and evading more than US$50 million in taxes payable to the Guyana government.