More than 40 civilians were also in custody or being sought in connection with the sting, which began in April 2015 after the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau received a tip from an officer who suspected his colleagues were involved in illegal activity, the police said.

The Police Department did not immediately provide the names of the seven officers or the civilians, or offer details about the charges they are facing. There were two police officers, three sergeants and two detectives arrested, according to the police.

“Today, those who swore an oath and then betrayed it have felt the consequences of that infidelity,” the police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said in a statement. “The people of this department are rightly held to the highest standard, and should they fail to meet it, the penalty will be swift and severe.”.

O’Neill said with the arrests, the internal affairs unit has “sent a clear message: There is no place in the NYPD for criminal or unethical behavior.”

Two other detectives were stripped of their guns and shields and placed on modified duty for violations of police rules, the police said.

A spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, declined to comment and referred questions to the Police Department.

The police obtained court warrants to intercept the officers’ electronic communications and also obtained physical evidence, according to one official, who discussed the investigation on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the details of the case.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Ashley Southall and Al Baker © 2018 The New York Times