IGP Reactivates MOPOL to Tackle Kidnapping, Banditry

By Saheed Olatunji, Reporter

The police plan to strengthen their efforts against kidnapping and banditry by revitalizing the Police Mobile Force (MOPOL), the Spynews learnt

“The fighting arm of the police is back,” the Inspector-General Tunji Disu said at the weekend when he toured police barracks in Lagos.

He emphasized how weak border security allows armed groups to operate freely and destabilize the nation.

The IGP announced that neglected mobile police units, particularly in the Northeast, have resumed training to build the capacity needed to tackle banditry, kidnapping, and escalating security threats.

He described MOPOL as the police force’s fighting arm, noting it was specifically trained for insurgency but had failed for years due to a lack of training, equipment, and exposure to counter-insurgency tactics..

In the past, MOPOL was a specially trained, well-equipped, mobile and effective squad of the police.

Its deployment on any assignment brought about sanity and success.

A former IGP, Tafa Balogun, appointed in 2002 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was an officer of the Police Mobile Force.

Disu said the low morale of MOPOL over the years had visibly improved because of his new approach to bringing back the squad’s old glory.

He expressed confidence that they would effectively play their expected role in the insurgency battle.

He said experienced retired MOPOL personnel were returning to training camps voluntarily to support the trainers and pass on their experience to younger officers.

“It shows that even in retirement, they still love the job and love Nigeria,” he said, adding that the gesture had given him joy.

Expressing confidence in the ability of the PMF to rout banditry and insurgency, Disu said they were trained to take on the more demanding, high-risk assignments.

He said banditry and insurgency were not peculiar to Nigeria, stressing that they were wider regional challenges.

He also said Nigeria’s relative wealth was making it an attractive target for armed groups exploiting porous borders.

Disu said many West African cities had fallen to insurgents and bandits, noting that sustained military and police operations had helped Nigeria to hold its ground, though at a huge cost.

Disu lamented that many police officers and other security operatives had died this year in the course of protecting the country’s territorial integrity, urging the public to see uniformed and plainclothes officers on the streets as people actively working and dying to protect their lives and property.

Noting the call by the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa, for Nigeria to fence its borders, he said the measure, along with aerial surveillance and other technology-driven monitoring, would strengthen the country’s security architecture.

The IGP also spoke on the importance of a centralised biometric and criminal database among security agencies.

He said the police were already populating one following an upgrade of data-capturing devices, with directives issued to divisional police units nationwide.

Disu said the database, which would be shared with other security agencies, could also serve employers seeking to screen prospective employees.

On the continued sale of pre-registered SIM cards, often exploited by kidnappers, Disu said the force was collaborating with telecommunications service providers on intelligence sharing and enforcement.

He described the cooperation as part of a broader community policing philosophy, urging Nigerians to see intelligence-sharing as a civic duty rather than something that does not concern them.

“The life you save today may be your own. In modern policing, we say the community is the police, and the police are the community. We are all in the business of protecting lives and property,” Disu added