HGP Nightly News – Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Slowe is demanding answers over the police operation involving Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his associates near President Irfaan Ali’s private residence at Leonora.
Slowe questioned whether the detentions, searches and seizure of electronic devices were carried out lawfully.
Speaking on the September 6 edition of Speaking Out: Exposing Corruption and Incompetence, Slowe described the incident as “more evidence of the dictatorship that we are living in and this growing police state.”
He pointed to differences between two police statements about the operation.
The first reportedly referred to vehicles “acting in a suspicious manner,” while a later statement introduced allegations of unauthorised drone activity.
“Is it unlawful or illegal for vehicles to drive around or people to walk around the President’s residence?” Slowe asked.
He also questioned whether Mohamed and the other occupants were arrested or merely escorted to the Leonora Police Station.
“If they did commit an offence, you had an obligation to inform them of the offence they committed,” he said.
The former senior police officer further challenged the reported searches of vehicles and residences, questioning whether warrants had been obtained for the late-night operations.
Slowe also questioned the basis of the drone investigation.
“Is having a drone an offence?” he asked.
He argued that finding a drone in a vehicle’s trunk did not establish that it had been flown near the President’s home.
According to Slowe, investigators could have examined the device’s memory card to determine whether it contained images of the residence.
He also criticised the effort to have Mohamed’s bail revoked or varied in the ongoing extradition proceedings.
“It is not what you know; it is what can be proven,” Slowe said, while discussing the magistrate’s decision to leave the existing bail conditions in place.
The retired police commissioner further condemned social-media posts linking Mohamed’s convoy to Venezuelans, explosives and an attempted hijacking.
He accused government-aligned platforms of spreading misinformation without attracting the same official condemnation directed at critics of the administration.
The allegations surrounding the police operation remain under investigation.
