Amnesty International has released a major investigative report titled “Tiger Base of Atrocities,” which corroborates many of the fears surrounding missing persons at this facility.
​Amnesty International’s investigation into the Imo State Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit (Tiger Base) has uncovered a pattern of systemic human rights violations.
Numerous detainees have been “forcibly disappeared,” meaning they were taken into custody and never seen again, with no official record of their whereabouts or status.
The unit is accused of unlawfully killing suspects and then claiming they were “killed in a gun battle” or simply leaving their fates unknown to their families.
Detainees are reportedly held in “filthy, windowless, and overcrowded cells” where torture is used to extract confessions or lucrative bribes.
The report notes that people are often arrested to settle private scores—such as land disputes—rather than for actual criminal activity.
​While the exact number of “200 persons” is a figure often cited by activists and affected families to describe the scale of the missing, the Amnesty report confirms that the number of victims of unlawful detention, torture, and disappearance is indeed extensive and entrenched.
Historically, the Imo State Police Command has defended Tiger Base, claiming it is a vital tactical unit for fighting kidnapping and violent crime. They have previously dismissed allegations of organ trafficking and torture as “false” or “malicious.”
At least 38 civic groups have petitioned the Nigerian Senate to investigate the unit, and there are growing calls for Tiger Base to be disbanded, mirroring the movements that led to the end of SARS.
