Pubdate: Fri, 13 May 2005
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Section: Nation/Digest
Copyright: 2005 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

LAW ENFORCEMENT SNARES ITS OWN IN ARIZONA COCAINE STING

Pretending to be cocaine traffickers, undercover FBI agents in Arizona 
snared 16 current and former law-enforcement officers and U.S. soldiers who 
accepted more than $222,000 in bribes to help move the drugs past 
checkpoints, the government said yesterday.

Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service 
inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, seven 
members of the Arizona Army National Guard, five members of the Arizona 
Department of Corrections and a police officer, officials said.

All 16 agreed to plead guilty to being part of a bribery and corruption 
conspiracy, said Noel Hillman, a Justice Department official. Each faces up 
to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The defendants in the nearly 3  1/2-year-long sting agreed to cooperate 
with an investigation expected to bring more arrests, Hillman said.
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