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A group of 14 serving and previous police personnel are among 20 defendants taken into custody in Mississippi and Tennessee for taking illicit payments from narcotics dealers in exchange for police protection, in what officials labeled "a monumental betrayal of the community's confidence".

These apprehensions follow a multi-year investigation by national law enforcement who posed as narcotics dealers. Two of the defendants were Mississippi sheriffs.

National authorities set up the undercover operation after hearing complaints from real drug traffickers about being forced to provide bribes to officers.

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

"The original complaints that started the inquiry were from drug dealers," a federal prosecutor announced during a press briefing on the day of the announcement.

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

This operation involved covert national officers posing as drug dealers with simulated drugs, which the defendants reportedly thought to be 25kg (55lb) of cocaine.

"They betrayed the community," stated a senior FBI official. "They violated the trust that the public had in them, disgraced the badge and undermined 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.