SOLDIERS, COPS NABBED IN DRUG STING

TUCSON, Ariz. -- 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 Thursday.

Those charged include a former immigration 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 and were scheduled to enter pleas Thursday in federal court,
said Noel Hillman, a Justice Department official.

Each faced a single conspiracy count with a maximum prison term of five
years and a $250,000 fine.

The defendants in the nearly 3-1/2-year sting were not arrested and agreed
to cooperate with an investigation expected to involve people from
additional agencies, said Hillman and FBI Agent Jana D. Monroe, who is in
charge of the bureau's operations in Arizona.