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A two-year sting led to the arrests of more than 130 people, most of them law enforcement officers charged with helping drug traffickers.
In what is being billed as the biggest police corruption investigation in the history of the FBI, more than 130 people were arrested Wednesday in Puerto Rico -- including 89 law enforcement officers -- accused of drug trafficking.
The results of the two-year investigation were announced Wednesday in Washington by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Sixty one Puerto Rico police officers were charged, as were 16 officers from municipal departments, six former state police officers, 12 corrections officers and three members of Puerto Rico's National Guard. Two U.S. Army soldiers and 30 civilians were also charged.
``These indictments are the result of 125 undercover drug transactions that FBI agents conducted across Puerto Rico, from July 2008 until September 2010,'' Holder said at a news conference carried live on television.
``We allege that the defendants charged today provided security during undercover drug deals in exchange for payments ranging from $500 to $4,500 per transaction -- more than half a million dollars in total.''
According to a U.S. Department of Justice news release, the charges against 133 people range from conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, attempt to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, and use of a firearm during the commission of a drug-trafficking offense.
The Justice Department said that close to 750 FBI agents were flown to Puerto Rico from across the country to assist in the arrests Wednesday, in what has been dubbed ``Operation Guard Shack.'' Currently 129 individuals are in custody and four remain at large.
Luis Fraticelli, the FBI Special Agent in charge, said the investigation began two years ago when the current police superintendent was a top officer at the FBI.
``This is the biggest police corruption case in the history of Puerto Rico and the United States and the FBI,'' Fraticelli said.
Fraticelli said officers were caught doing everything from demanding money to pay for their children's little league uniforms to boasting of murder. One corrections officer admitted smuggling half a pound of marijuana for sale and use at the jail.
``The great majority of officers in Puerto Rico are honest,'' Holder said in Spanish. ``We are not going to accept that the actions of some destroy the good work of the majority.''
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In what is being billed as the biggest police corruption investigation in the history of the FBI, more than 130 people were arrested Wednesday in Puerto Rico -- including 89 law enforcement officers -- accused of drug trafficking.
The results of the two-year investigation were announced Wednesday in Washington by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Sixty one Puerto Rico police officers were charged, as were 16 officers from municipal departments, six former state police officers, 12 corrections officers and three members of Puerto Rico's National Guard. Two U.S. Army soldiers and 30 civilians were also charged.
``These indictments are the result of 125 undercover drug transactions that FBI agents conducted across Puerto Rico, from July 2008 until September 2010,'' Holder said at a news conference carried live on television.
``We allege that the defendants charged today provided security during undercover drug deals in exchange for payments ranging from $500 to $4,500 per transaction -- more than half a million dollars in total.''
According to a U.S. Department of Justice news release, the charges against 133 people range from conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, attempt to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, and use of a firearm during the commission of a drug-trafficking offense.
The Justice Department said that close to 750 FBI agents were flown to Puerto Rico from across the country to assist in the arrests Wednesday, in what has been dubbed ``Operation Guard Shack.'' Currently 129 individuals are in custody and four remain at large.
Luis Fraticelli, the FBI Special Agent in charge, said the investigation began two years ago when the current police superintendent was a top officer at the FBI.
``This is the biggest police corruption case in the history of Puerto Rico and the United States and the FBI,'' Fraticelli said.
Fraticelli said officers were caught doing everything from demanding money to pay for their children's little league uniforms to boasting of murder. One corrections officer admitted smuggling half a pound of marijuana for sale and use at the jail.
``The great majority of officers in Puerto Rico are honest,'' Holder said in Spanish. ``We are not going to accept that the actions of some destroy the good work of the majority.''
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