February 26, 2026
A police unit established to combat kidnapping and armed robbery in Imo State has instead become a hub of alleged extrajudicial executions, torture and systematic extortion, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday.
The unit, popularly known as “Tiger Base,” as stated in the report operates under the Imo State Police Command in Owerri.
According to the report, titled “Tiger Base of Atrocities: Human Rights Violations by Nigeria Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit Owerri,” detainees are routinely held in inhuman conditions, coerced into making confessions and, in some cases, shot or forcibly disappeared.
Amnesty International Nigeria Director, Isa Sanusi, in the report issued by its Social Media and Communications Officer, Michael Christian, said the unit had become notorious for abuse of power
“Tiger Base has become synonymous with police operating outside of the law and abusing their power to enrich themselves through extortion.
“Those arrested and detained by this unit are subjected to torture and ill-treatment, they never come out intact. Many are traumatised forever.
“Despite the horrific violations they have suffered, there has been no accountability to date,” he said.
The report alleged that many detainees were held for weeks or months without being formally charged or brought before a court.
Former detainees further told Amnesty International that statements were often extracted under torture.
One survivor recounted his ordeal: “They arrested me insisting I bought stolen items. I told them I didn’t know anything about it. They locked me up and seized my phone.
“After about three weeks, a police officer came to take my statement. Still, they kept me locked up…. They later told us that the complainant claimed her loss was worth N14m (US$9,500) but that she agreed to collect N4.5m (US$3,100) instead. They said if I wanted to be released, my family would pay.”
Former detainees described being beaten with iron rods and cables, cut with knives and machetes, and suspended with ropes. The resulting confessions, Amnesty said, were then used to demand bribes before suspects could secure release on bail.
The report further alleged the existence of a thriving illegal Point of Sale operation within the detention facility, where relatives of detainees were required to withdraw and transfer money on the premises to secure release.
In some instances, detainees were allegedly taken from their cells and shot.
“The other guy took him out, we heard gunshots, we thought they had killed him but after some hours in the night, he came into the cell. We looked at his leg, and they shot him. He is carrying bullet wounds inside the cell with us; nobody cares,” a survivor told the organisation.
Amnesty International described severe overcrowding at the facility, with more than 70 detainees reportedly crammed into cells measuring about 12 feet by 12 feet.
The cells, the report said, have no windows and only one overflowing toilet, forcing detainees to eat, sleep and relieve themselves in the same confined space.
One former detainee told Amnesty International, “If you survive Cell 1, it is only by God’s grace. Many people disappeared after being moved there; nobody ever saw them again.”
Another described the response of officials to medical emergencies inside the cells: “People [in the cells] will be crying: ‘someone is dying here!’ They [officials] will still lock the cell gate…Then, even if they bring you out, they will still beat you up to see whether you are pretending or not. Then, they will take you out and keep you in the corridor for air. If you regain consciousness, they will throw you back into the cell…”
The report documented several alleged deaths in detention, including that of Okechukwu Ogbedagu in 2022.
Amnesty International said an autopsy it reviewed indicated that he died of asphyxiation.
