The Nigeria Police Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) which is being promoted by Inspector General of Police (IGP), Muhammed Adamu, as a new special unit with new recruitment and deployments was already existing in the nation’s Police system.
Already, Mr Adamu had, while addressing officers and men of the Police during his visit to the Osun Police Command in Osogbo early September last year said that the Police Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team and patrol vehicles would be deployed to the Southwest region of the country.
The unit had been enabled to complement the efforts of the regular Police in fighting crime.
The IGPs confirmation of the existence of SWAT was duly reported by the online newspaper, Premium Times via the link https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-west/350371-insecurity-fg-to-deploy-vehicles-swat-team-to-southwest-official.html.
The IGP said his visit was to brief his officers on the resolutions of the South-Western Security Summit held in Ibadan, Oyo state and to appreciate and encourage them for their effort in curbing crime and criminality within the state and the region.
“A lot of decisions have been taken to enhance security in the zone. So far so good, the security situation in the south-west is relatively controlled. We know we have some isolated cases of kidnapping and robbery here and there but we give credit to officers and men of the police within the zone who have been up and doing in bringing down crime within the zone.
“We have agreed at the summit to reinforce and support you in performing your duties and have also resolved to send SWAT team to come and complement what you do.
“The SWAT team will be headed by a Commissioner of Police who will be deployed with vehicles mounted with technological gadgets to help you fight crime within the subregion.
“The federal government has acquired a lot of vehicles which will soon be commissioned and distributed.”
These vehicles are patrol vehicles that are supposed to make the highways safer,” he said.
He said that police barracks would be built to provide accommodations for officers and men of the Force.
He said body armour had also been procured and would be distributed to police commands across the country so officers can face and combat criminals with sophisticated weapons.