Former SARS officials won’t join SWAT – Police

The Nigerian police force say no former operative of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) will be part of the new Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit, TopNaija reports.

Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), dissolved SARS on Sunday, following a nationwide outrage. Despite the pronouncement of the IGP on SARS, protests have continued in different parts of the country.

On Tuesday Adamu set up SWAT in lieu of the now disbanded SARS and said members of the new unit would commence training next week. The inspector-general of police also ordered the former SARS operatives to report to the force headquarters for debriefing and psychological evaluation.

But many of the protesters have said SWAT would be made up of the disbanded SARS officials, hence the reason they have continued with the demonstration.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, the police said the new unit has five cardinal points as its mandate which includes responding to robbery attacks and rescue operations.

“Mandate of the new TACTICAL team is strictly restricted to; Response to robbery attacks, Response to scenes of weapon-related crimes, Rescue operations, [and] Special operations involving high profile criminals,” Frank Mba, force public relations officer, said in a tweet.

“No personnel of the defunct SARS will be selected to be part of the new TACTICAL team. Operations of the new TACTICAL team will be strictly intelligence-driven.

“Members of the new TACTICAL team will by no means embark on routine patrols. Members of the new TACTICAL team are barred from indiscriminate and unlawful search of phones, laptops and other smart devices.

“Operatives of the new TACTICAL team must be free of any pending disciplinary matter especially those touching on misuse of firearms and abuse of human rights.”