Last Updated on Saturday, 29 August 2026, 0:29 by Writer
Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed on Thursday said he found the licence and certificate of inspection for his boat, Prince AZ II, but they expired seven years ago.
Legal experts say there is a vast difference between never having a licence and an expired one, though the years of expiration may be viewed seriously by a regulatory authority.
The license provided by Mr. Mohamed was effective from 22 December 2017, and expired on 10 September 2018.
He produced the document one day after the Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced that neither he nor his vessel held valid documentation.
The vessel was originally detained early Wednesday morning when Mr. Mohamed failed to show any paperwork that was requested by a joint police-coast guard patrol. 
The document states that the passenger/cargo vessel is authorised to be equipped with two 600 horsepower outboard engines, carry six passengers and two crew members, life jackets for eight adults, one first aid kit and two paddles.
“Applicant has fulfilled condition as outline (sic) the regulations to operate a fibre glass boat to workers as passengers cargo in the Demerara and Essequibo rivers and its tributaries,” states the licence.
Mr Mohamed and five of his We Invest in Nationhood parliamentarians had travelled to Port Kaituma and Mabaruma in the fiberglass boat on Tuesday to meet with survivors and relatives of those who perished in the July 18 sinking of the government-owned ferry, MV Barima.
They were approached by a joint services maritime patrol at Mr Mohamed’s dock at Friendship, East Bank Demerara, the vessel and occupants searched and later escorted to the marine police base at Ruimveldt, Georgetown, during pre-dawn hours of Wednesday.
A certificate of inspection, which was also issued on 22 December 2017 and expired on 10 September 2018, states that the vessel is prohibited from operating between “the hours of sunset and sunrise.”
But the police force said the vessel was interdicted at approximately 9:50 p.m. on Tuesday by Joint Services agents, while on patrol and acting on information received, observed the vessel proceeding along the Demerara River towards the Friendship area.
“The ranks signalled the vessel by siren to stop.
However, the vessel failed to comply and sped away, prompting a pursuit before it was subsequently intercepted at a wharf at Friendship,” police said.
The certificate of inspection also states that the vessel must be manned by one boatmaster grade 3 and one deck rating category 4.
Mr Mohamed also maintained that he was also granted a captain’s licence but could not locate it immediately, as a number of documents was earlier this year removed by the Police Force’s Special Organised Crime Unit.
