Fourteen current and former law enforcement officers were among 20 defendants in Mississippi and Tennessee accused of taking bribes from drug dealers to protect police officers, in what officials called “a monumental betrayal of the public trust.”
The arrests followed a years-long investigation into federal agents posing as drug dealers. Two of the defendants are Mississippi police sergeants.
Federal officials launched the sting operation after hearing actual drug dealers complain about having to pay bribes to officials.
The bribery network allegedly expanded from the Mississippi Delta region to Memphis, Tennessee, and Miami, Florida.
“The initial complaint that began the investigation came from a drug dealer,” Clay Joyner, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, said at a news conference Thursday.
Prosecutors added that some officers received bribes ranging from $20,000 (£15,000) to $37,000.
The sting involved undercover federal agents posing as drug dealers and carrying counterfeit narcotics that the defendants allegedly believed to be 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of cocaine.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey said the accused officers “betrayed the public.”
“They betrayed the public trust placed in them, tarnished the badge and undermined the hard work of outstanding law enforcement officers across the state and region,” Bailey said at a news conference.
The arrests come as U.S. officials have begun conducting airstrikes against drug traffickers in South America.