NATIONAL: IGP orders deployment of SWAT to all states

THE Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the instant deployment of the recently trained Special Weapon and Tactical Team (SWAT) to every state in the country for routine patrols.

The IGP’s directive was addressed to the 17 Assistant Inspectors-General of Police in the Force and Commissioners of Police in Nigeria.

The deployment order contained in a statement with reference number CH:5350/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.20/340 was tagged, “Deployment of Newly Formed Special Weapon and Tactical Team operatives”.

The statement read: “The Inspector General of Police directs that all recently selected and trained Special Weapon and Tactical Team (SWAT) operatives are to be deployed for routine duties across areas of responsibility immediately”.

The IGP had inaugurated SWAT following the disbandment of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, F-SARS.

F-SARS was disbanded following agitation against its members’ brutality, extortion and allied highhandedness by Nigerian youths

The agitation while it lasted, was tagged EndSARS.

One of the demands of the agitation was the scrapping of the F-SARS which the government eventually granted after days of widespread protests.