Cops, Soldiers Smuggled Drugs May 13, 2005
News Summary
A group of 16 current and former police officers and military personnel were caught in an FBI sting operation and charged with smuggling cocaine from Mexico into the U.S., the Associated Press reported May 12.The Arizona Army National Guard solders, Arizona Department of Corrections officers, a police officer, and former Army sergeant, prison guard, and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector involved in the scheme all pleaded guilty to taking $222,000 in bribes to allow cocaine to slip through border checkpoints.
"Many individuals charged were sworn personnel having the task of protecting society and securing America's borders. The importance of these tasks cannot be overstated and we cannot tolerate, nor can the American people afford, this type of corruption," said FBI agent Jana D. Monroe, who runs the agency's operations in Arizona.
FBI agents, acting on a tip, posed as cocaine dealers and moved more than $18.5 million worth of the drug across the border with the help of the smuggling ring. Arrests of others involved in the scheme are expected as the investigation continues.
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