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Fourteen current and former law-enforcement officers are among twenty individuals charged arrested in Mississippi and Tennessee for accepting bribes from drug traffickers in to provide law enforcement cover, in what officials labeled "a monumental betrayal of the community's confidence".

These apprehensions follow a years-long probe by federal agents who posed as drug sellers. Among those charged were Mississippi sheriffs.

National authorities initiated the sting after hearing reports from actual drug traffickers about having to pay corrupt payments to police members.

This corruption scheme allegedly extended outside the Delta area of Mississippi into the city of Memphis in Tennessee, and Miami in Florida.

"The original complaints that started the inquiry were from narcotics traffickers," a federal prosecutor stated during a news conference on Thursday.

Certain law enforcement members had received bribes ranging from $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the prosecutor added.

This operation utilized covert national officers posing as narcotics sellers with fake narcotics, which the accused individuals reportedly thought to be 25kg (55lb) of cocaine.

"They sold out the public," stated a senior FBI official. "They betrayed the confidence that the people had in them, shamed the uniform and weakened the hard work of honest police members across this state and region."

The arrests occur as U.S. officials have begun air strikes in South America against suspected narcotics criminals.