Fourteen Police Officers Including 20 Arrested in the State of Mississippi Narcotics Corruption Operation
Fourteen current and former police personnel are among 20 defendants taken into custody in Mississippi and Tennessee for taking illicit payments from narcotics dealers in exchange for police protection, in what authorities labeled "a monumental betrayal of the community's confidence".
These apprehensions follow a years-long probe by national law enforcement who acted as narcotics dealers. Two of the defendants were Mississippi sheriffs.
Federal officials set up the sting after receiving reports from actual drug traffickers about having to pay bribes to police members.
The bribery network allegedly extended outside the Delta area of Mississippi into Memphis, Tennessee, and Miami in Florida.
"The original complaints that started the inquiry were from drug dealers," a federal prosecutor stated during a news conference on Thursday.
Some of the officers had received illicit payments ranging from $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the prosecutor noted.
The sting utilized undercover federal agents acting as narcotics sellers with simulated drugs, which the defendants reportedly thought to be 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of cocaine.
"They sold out the public," declared a senior FBI official. "They betrayed the trust that the people had in them, shamed the uniform and undermined the hard work of honest police members across this area and locality."
These detentions take place as American authorities have embarked on air strikes in the southern continent against suspected narcotics criminals.
