FBI STING NETS TROOPS, LAWMEN

TUCSON, Ariz. -- FBI agents posing as cocaine traffickers caught 16 current
and former soldiers and law-enforcement personnel who took bribes to help
move drugs through checkpoints, Justice Department officials alleged Thursday.

Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service
inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, current
and former members of the Arizona Army National Guard and the state
corrections department, and a Nogales police officer, officials said.

All 16 have agreed to plead guilty to being part of a bribery and extortion
conspiracy, the result of the nearly 3 1/2 -year FBI sting, officials said.
More arrests are anticipated.

The FBI used real cocaine seized in other operations, the officials said.
The 16 suspects transported more than 1,230 pounds of cocaine and accepted
more than $222,000 in bribes, the officials alleged. The cocaine, with a
street value of nearly $18.5 million, never ultimately left FBI possession,
officials said.