Fourteen current and former law-enforcement officers are among 20 defendants arrested in Mississippi and Tennessee for taking illicit payments from narcotics dealers in exchange for police protection, in what officials labeled "an enormous breach of public trust".
These apprehensions come after a years-long probe by federal agents who posed as narcotics dealers. Among those charged were Mississippi sheriffs.
Federal officials set up the undercover operation after receiving complaints from actual narcotics criminals about being forced to provide corrupt payments to officers.
This corruption scheme reportedly reached outside the Mississippi Delta region into Memphis, 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 the day of the announcement.
Some of the officers had received bribes between $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the legal official noted.
This operation utilized undercover federal agents posing as narcotics sellers with simulated drugs, which the accused individuals reportedly thought to be 25kg (55lb) of cocaine.
"They sold out the public," stated a senior FBI official. "They violated the trust that the people placed in them, disgraced the badge and weakened the efforts of good law enforcement officers across this area and locality."
The arrests take place as American authorities have embarked on air strikes in the southern continent against suspected narcotics criminals.
