UPDATED: Six South Australian plain clothes police officers have been arrested following a joint investigation by the SA Police Anti-Corruption Branch and the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC).

The officers were from the Sturt Local Service Area and part of Operation Mantle, which targets drug crime.

The six police officers arrested have been charged with the following offences:

• a 53-year-old man from Darlington charged with abuse of public office and aggravated theft.
• a 43-year-old man from Aberfoyle Park charged with two counts of abuse of public office, two counts of theft, and property damage.
• a 38-year-old man from Woodcroft charged with two counts of abuse of public office, two counts of aggravated theft and property damage.
• a 33-year-old man from Camden Park charged with abuse of public office and aggravated theft.
• a 31-year-old woman from Sellicks Beach charged with abuse of public office, aggravated theft and property damage.
• a 27-year-old woman from Woodcroft charged with abuse of public office and aggravated theft.

The officers have been bailed to appear at the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 19 December 2014.

SA Police Commissioner Gary Burns said Monday durgs weren’t involved in the charges, which resulted from an operation that began early this year. T

The anti-corruption branch became involved and SAPOL reported the officers’ conduct to the ICAC.

“From that point it became a joint operation,” Burns said.

“It was the police that uncovered this, it was the police anti-corruption branch that dealt with it and it the police that informed ICAC.”

ICAC Commissioner Bruce Lander confirmed that he headed up the investigation.

“I decided it would be appropriate to head the investigation. I’ve been impressed by the professionalism of the anti-corruption branch.

“Like the Police Commissioner said, we are disappointed by the allegations.”

Premier Jay Weatherill said the alleged offences amounted to an “awful” breach of trust but the public should have confidence that ICAC was doing its job.

“Good governments have nothing to hide, and we wanted to make sure that there was the highest public trust in our most important public institutions,” he told reporters.

While the investigation is ongoing, Burns said he believed the problem was confined to the Operation Mantle’s Sturt team.

That group consists of seven police – one sergeant and a group of senior constables and constables.

Six of the seven have been charged.

Operation Mantle teams are placed in each SAPOL local service area.

They teams were established as a “problem-solving, situational crime prevention approach” in October 1998.

Operation Mantle has a high reliance on local intelligence.

Burns said there was no indication the problem experienced in the Sturt team had spread to other teams.

“The arrests don’t finalise the investigation and while the allegations are disappointing we don’t believe that it exists outside the Sturt team.”

– with AAP