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Fourteen current and former law-enforcement officers are among twenty individuals charged taken into custody in the states of Mississippi and Tennessee for taking illicit payments from narcotics dealers in exchange for law enforcement cover, in what officials described as "a monumental betrayal of the community's confidence".

These apprehensions come after a years-long probe by federal agents who posed as drug sellers. Two of the defendants were county sheriffs from Mississippi.

Federal officials set up the sting after receiving complaints from real narcotics criminals about being forced to provide bribes to police members.

The bribery network reportedly reached beyond the Mississippi Delta region into the city of Memphis in Tennessee, and Miami, Florida.

"Initial reports that began the investigation were from drug dealers," a U.S. attorney announced during a press briefing on the day of the announcement.

Some of the officers had received illicit payments ranging from $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the legal official added.

This operation utilized undercover federal agents acting as narcotics sellers with simulated drugs, which the accused individuals reportedly thought to be 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of cocaine.

"They sold out the public," declared a senior FBI official. "They violated the confidence that the public had in them, disgraced the uniform and undermined the hard work of good law enforcement officers across this state and region."

The arrests occur as U.S. officials have begun air strikes in the southern continent against alleged drug traffickers.