No fewer than 30,400 Nigerians have lost their lives in Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) custody in 16 years, a new report by Intersociety on Monday has said.
The new report published on Monday accused the outlawed police squad of conducting more than 30,400 in extra-judicial killings around Nigeria since 2004.
According to the analysis by the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law, the special anti-robbery squad was responsible for the disappearance of thousands of Nigerians who were not legally arrested or tried before being executed in custody.
The analysis was conducted on the extra-judicial killing of unprocessed detainees within the 16-year period across the country.
The report, however, complicates police’s claim that officers were frequently checked for extra-judicial violence and #EndSARS protesters were misinformed about cases of police brutality.
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Recall that SARS was disbanded on October 11 after nearly three decades of gruesome rights abuses and corruption.
The Onitsha-based civil rights think-tank said its examination of SARS activities showed at least 10 citizens were killed monthly per state in the years under review.
“This further translates to 370 persons monthly and 4,440 yearly,” Intersociety said in its report sent to Peoples Gazette by its director Emeka Umeagbalasi.
“In other words, Nigeria as a whole is most likely to have lost in the past sixteen years or since 2004 a total of 30,400 unprocessed citizens to police extrajudicial killings mainly perpetrated by its SARS.”
The Force Headquarters was yet to comment on Intersociety’s allegations.
Several reports published by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have exposed how SARS officers and other Nigerian security forces shot citizens dead despite being in handcuffs with the security operatives labelling the victims armed robbers.