Fourteen current and former law-enforcement officers are part of twenty individuals charged taken into custody in the states of Mississippi and Tennessee for accepting bribes from narcotics dealers in to provide law enforcement cover, in what authorities described as "a monumental betrayal of public trust".
These apprehensions come after a years-long probe by national law enforcement who posed as drug sellers. Among those charged were Mississippi sheriffs.
National authorities set up the undercover operation after receiving complaints from real drug traffickers about having to pay corrupt payments to officers.
This corruption scheme allegedly extended beyond the Mississippi Delta region into Memphis, Tennessee, and Miami, Florida.
"The original complaints that began the investigation were from drug dealers," a U.S. attorney announced during a press briefing on Thursday.
Some of the officers had received bribes between $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the prosecutor noted.
This operation utilized undercover federal agents posing as drug dealers with simulated drugs, which the accused individuals reportedly thought to be 25kg (55lb) of the illegal substance.
"They betrayed the community," stated a senior FBI official. "They violated the confidence that the public had in them, disgraced the badge and weakened the efforts of honest police members across this area and locality."
The arrests take place as U.S. officials have begun aerial attacks in the southern continent against suspected narcotics criminals.
