The Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has disbanded the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad as constituted by his predecessor, Ibrahim Idris.
Adamu took the decision on Monday when he met with Command Commissioners of Police and other senior officers of the Force.
Bashir Ahmaad, a media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari also announced the development via a tweet this after writing:
JUST IN: The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed A. Adamu has ordered the immediate disbandment of the Federal SARS, Special Investigation Panel and Special Tactical Squad. Details @PoliceNG
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) January 21, 2019
He has now reverted to the old order where State Commands have SARS operating under them, with the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations) to oversee its overall operations.
For the Force Headquarters unit of the SARS, the DIG in charge of Federal Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department will supervise.
The acting IG also disbanded all quasi-investigation and operations outfits, including the Special Investigation Panel, Special Tactical Squad, IG Monitoring Unit, and IGP Intelligence Response Team.
He announced the setting-up of a Special Election Investigation Team tasked with the exclusive function of investigating and prosecuting electoral offenders.
Read Also: Photos: President Buhari Appoints Mohammed Adamu As Acting IGP
“The proposed re-organisation will produce a new Special Anti-Robbery Unit which will be professional enough to protect the citizens in their line of duty, but uniquely potent enough to respond to any major weapon-related organised crimes in the swiftest and most ethical manner,” he said.
“While this initiative is being perfected, the operations of SARS which is currently centralised at the Force Headquarters is hereby decentralised: consequently, with immediate effect, the Commissioner of Police in each of the 36 Police Commands and the FCT is to assume full command and control authority on all SARS in their commands, while the FHQ Unit is, henceforth, subsumed under the command of the DIG FCIID.
“The impact of this is that the DIG FCIID and Command CPS shall from this date, not only assume administrative and operational control of SARS in their respective Commands, they shall also be directly held liable for any professional misconducts resulting from the operations of the Units in their Commands.
“Similarly, all quasi-investigation and operations outfits including the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) and Special Tactical Squad (STS) or any other such Teams under whatever name are hereby disbanded.”
