The Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force has been disbanded.

The disbandment was announced by the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, The PUNCH reports.

He said the operatives will be redeployed to other police formations and commands.

Adamu announced this in a live broadcast on Sunday afternoon.

The announcement came after days of online and offline protests against the brutality and extra-judicial killings by SARS operatives nationwide.

At the briefing, the IGP said, “The Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force otherwise known as SARS is hereby dissolved in all the 36 State Police Commands and the Federal Capital Territory.”

The briefing was immediately followed by a statement signed by Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba.

The statement titled, ‘IGP Dissolves The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)’, partly read, “The IGP, while noting that the dissolution of SARS is in response to the yearnings of the Nigerian people, observes that by this dissolution, all officers and men of the now-defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad are being redeployed with immediate effect.

“The IGP notes that the Force is not oblivious of the ever-present need to combat armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country which was before now the core mandate of the erstwhile Squad.”