SENIOR Superintendent of Police Prem Narine on Monday defended his decision to destroy three books containing notes made in the course of his duties, telling the court that he believed he was required to do so under the United Kingdom’s Official Secrets Act.
Narine, Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Special Branch Unit, made the disclosure while under cross-examination by defence attorney Siand Dhurjon during the ongoing extradition proceedings against Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his father, businessman Nazar Mohamed. Narine, the prosecution’s second witness, has testified about his role in collecting and presenting documents connected to the United States extradition request, obtaining the arrest warrants and executing those warrants against the Mohameds on October 31, 2025.
Dhurjon returned to the issue of the books Narine had previously acknowledged destroying by fire, questioning him about their contents and the nature of the information he recorded.
Narine identified one of the destroyed books as his personal diary containing personal notes, while referring to the other two as books in which he made records.

The defence sought to establish whether Narine would only have written down information he considered sufficiently important. Narine disagreed, stating he recorded information whenever he felt the need. “In those books, I would have recorded anything, be it important or not important, once I feel the need to,” Narine said.
Dhurjon then questioned Narine about whether, as part of his police duties, he was required to record anything said by a person before, during or after an arrest.
Narine said he did not believe this was a duty if he could recall what the person had said.
The defence also challenged Narine over evidence concerning Nazar Mohamed’s arrest.
Dhurjon pointed out that Narine had testified that Nazar Mohamed told him he was “waiting for us to come,” which meant Mohamed was waiting for the police to arrive and arrest him. However, the statement was not recorded in Narine’s written statement in those exact words, a point Narine acknowledged during cross-examination.
Dhurjon subsequently put to Narine that, under the judges’ rules, he was required to record the words of a person “word for word” in one of the books that he later destroyed.
Narine responded that he did not know he was required to do so.
The defence then returned to the reason for the destruction of the books, putting to Narine that he had disposed of them because he feared breaching the UK Official Secrets Act.
After some initial clarification, Dhurjon put the matter directly to Narine, stating the reason he destroyed the books was because he believed it was part of his obligation under the Official Secrets Act. Narine replied, “Yes, that’s true”.
Dhurjon also questioned Narine about the consequences of breaching the Act.
The defence referred to potential penalties, including imprisonment, but the Chief Magistrate ultimately disallowed the question after noting that the extract of the Act being relied upon did not specify the penalties being put to the witness.
Narine nevertheless acknowledged that he was aware there were penalties for breaching the Act. The defence then asked the police witness what obligation he believed he would have breached had he kept the documents instead of destroying them.
Narine said he understood that he had signed a declaration concerning the protection of national secrets. “I understand that I sign a declaration to keep … the nation’s secret,” he said.
Narine also confirmed during the cross-examination that he had consulted the police legal adviser about how to proceed with his testimony in the extradition proceedings.
The UK Official Secrets Act is a law intended to protect sensitive government information. It makes certain unauthorised disclosures of protected official information a criminal offence, particularly where disclosure could damage areas such as national security, defence, international relations, or law-enforcement operations.
The questioning formed part of Dhurjon’s broader challenge to Narine’s handling and retention of notes made during his police duties.

Narine had previously testified earlier this month that the three books were destroyed in January 2026. According to his account, the books were first shredded and the shredded material was subsequently burned at the compound of the Special Branch Unit.
The destruction of the books later became the subject of clarification by the Guyana Police Force, which said the material comprised personal working notes that Narine had used in preparing his statement for the extradition proceedings. The Force maintained that the notes did not contain information of evidential value. It said the information considered relevant to the proceedings had already been incorporated into Narine’s formal statement, meaning the destroyed notes were not relied upon as part of the evidentiary record.
The police also said the disposal of the material was carried out in accordance with established procedures.
The extradition proceedings against the Mohameds are expected to resume on Tuesday at 9 a.m., with further cross-examination of Narine
The extradition case stems from a request by the United States for the surrender of the Mohameds to face an 11-count federal indictment. The indictment includes allegations of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and customs offences.
U.S. prosecutors alleged that the two businessmen participated in a multi-year scheme involving the export of Guyanese gold using falsified customs declarations and reused government export seals, allegedly resulting in the evasion of more than US$50 million in taxes and royalties.
The indictment also concerns a Lamborghini vehicle, with prosecutors alleging that Azruddin caused the vehicle to be shipped from Miami to Guyana and used a false invoice that understated its purchase price, resulting in more than US$1 million in allegedly avoided Guyanese taxes. The Mohameds have denied the allegations.
The two men were arrested on October 31, 2025, and each was granted $150,000 bail, with conditions requiring them to surrender their passports and report to the Ruimveldt Police Station. The committal proceedings commenced on January 6, 2026, but have been repeatedly interrupted by the various legal challenges filed by the defence.
The Mohameds were sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2024 over allegations of corruption and a gold-smuggling scheme and were subsequently indicted by U.S. prosecutors on related charges.