Police authorities have deployed officers of the new Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) to state commands in order curb the growing insecurity in the country.
The Minister of Police Affairs Muhammed Maigari Dingyadi stated this while featuring on a television programme on Friday evening.
He said, “They (SWAT officers) have ended their training and they have been posted to the state police commands that brought them for training. They are there with them and they are performing the functions of the SWAT.”
It would be recalled that SWAT was formed following the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) over allegations of human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings last October.
The former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had immediately announced the formation of SWAT as a replacement.
So far, about 1,850 members of SWAT have been trained at the Police Mobile Force Training School, Ila OraNgun, Osun State and the PMF Training School, Ende Hills, Nasarawa State.
The SWAT officers were subsequently deployed in police formations across the country to fight crimes, particularly robberies but their impacts have not been felt in the country, reports say.
