Fourteen Law Enforcement Officers Among 20 Arrested in the State of Mississippi Narcotics Corruption Operation

Fourteen current and former law-enforcement officers are among twenty individuals charged taken into custody in Mississippi and Tennessee for taking illicit payments from drug traffickers in to provide police protection, in what officials labeled "an enormous breach of the community's confidence".

These apprehensions follow a years-long probe by national law enforcement who posed as narcotics dealers. Among those charged were county sheriffs from Mississippi.

Federal officials initiated the sting after receiving reports from actual narcotics criminals about being forced to provide bribes to police members.

The bribery network allegedly extended outside the Delta area of Mississippi into the city of Memphis in Tennessee, and Miami in Florida.

"The original complaints that began the investigation were from narcotics traffickers," a federal prosecutor stated during a press briefing on the day of the announcement.

Certain law enforcement members had received bribes between $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the legal official noted.

This operation involved undercover federal agents acting as drug dealers with fake narcotics, which the accused individuals reportedly thought to be 25kg (55lb) of the illegal substance.

"They sold out the community," declared a senior FBI official. "They violated the trust that the public had in them, shamed the uniform and weakened the hard work of honest police members across this state and region."

These detentions take place as U.S. officials have begun aerial attacks in South America against suspected narcotics criminals.