Fourteen Law Enforcement Officers Including 20 Arrested in the State of Mississippi Narcotics Corruption Operation
Fourteen current and former police personnel are among 20 defendants arrested in Mississippi and Tennessee for taking illicit payments from drug traffickers in to provide police protection, in what officials labeled "an enormous breach of public trust".
These apprehensions follow a years-long investigation by federal agents who posed as drug sellers. Two of the defendants were Mississippi sheriffs.
Federal officials initiated the undercover operation after receiving complaints from real drug traffickers about being forced to provide bribes to police members.
The bribery network reportedly reached beyond the Delta area of Mississippi into Memphis, Tennessee, and Miami, Florida.
"The original complaints that began the investigation were from narcotics traffickers," a U.S. attorney announced during a press briefing on Thursday.
Some of the officers had accepted illicit payments between $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the prosecutor added.
This operation involved undercover federal agents posing as narcotics sellers with fake narcotics, which the accused individuals allegedly believed to be 25kg (55lb) of the illegal substance.
"They sold out the public," stated a high-ranking federal agent. "They betrayed the trust that the people had in them, shamed the uniform and weakened the efforts of good law enforcement officers across this state and region."
These detentions occur as American authorities have embarked on aerial attacks in the southern continent against alleged drug traffickers.
