GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Sept 7, CMC – A magistrate court Monday granted GUY$600,000 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.008 cents) bail to a videographer, charged for operating an unmanned aerial vehicle over the private residence home of President Irfaan Ali without permission last weekend.
Dwayne Ross, 25, who reportedly does work for Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, was slapped with a charge of operating an “unmanned aerial vehicle” without a permit and as well as operating it at night in breach of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) directives, when he appeared before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrates’ Court.
The special prosecution had objected to bail, but the magistrate granted bail of GUY$200,000 on each of the three charges.
His attorney, Eusi Anderson, told the court that the directives of the Civil Aviation Authority are not enforced in law and that with respect to all of the charges, a drone is not defined in the the legislation as within the meaning of an aerial or unmanned aerial vehicle. He said all of the charges are therefore dubious in law.
The attorney said what his client may have committed is being in association with Mohamed, noting that on the night in question, Ross was parked at the back of a vehicle in which Mohamed was seated in front of a masjid in Leonora, when he was approached by officers of the Guyana Police Force.
Anderson said that his client was informed by the police that an unlawful drone was operating in the area, saying “my client was seated in the back seat and that was the extent of any evidence that he was operating a drone”.
Anderson submitted that the charges are all dubious and are bad at law, noting that this is the first time in the country’s history that a directive has a force in law and forms the basis of a complaint.
The matters were adjourned to September 30, 2026, for report.
Ross was among three men who remained in police custody following the September 3 incident. Police had identified the others as 35-year-old driver Eugene Thorne and 20-year-old Mario Mohamed.
The Opposition Leader, who denied owning the drone was released on self-bail after questioning.
CMC/gt/ir/2026