Fourteen Police Officers Including Twenty Individuals Apprehended in the State of Mississippi Drug Bribery Sting
Fourteen current and former law-enforcement officers are part of twenty individuals charged arrested in the states of Mississippi and Tennessee for accepting bribes from narcotics dealers in exchange for police protection, in what authorities labeled "a monumental betrayal of the community's confidence".
The arrests follow a multi-year investigation by national law enforcement who acted as drug sellers. Among those charged were county sheriffs from Mississippi.
National authorities set up the sting after hearing complaints from actual drug traffickers about having to pay corrupt payments to police members.
This corruption scheme reportedly reached beyond the Delta area of Mississippi into the city of Memphis in Tennessee, and Miami in Florida.
"Initial reports that began the investigation were from drug dealers," a U.S. attorney stated during a news conference on Thursday.
Some of the officers had accepted bribes ranging from $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the prosecutor added.
This operation utilized covert national officers acting as narcotics sellers with fake narcotics, which the accused individuals reportedly thought to be 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of cocaine.
"They sold out the community," declared a high-ranking federal agent. "They betrayed the trust that the people had in them, disgraced the badge and undermined the hard work of good law enforcement officers across this state and region."
The arrests occur as American authorities have embarked on aerial attacks in the southern continent against alleged drug traffickers.
