BALTIMORE (AP) — A disgraced Baltimore detective told jurors how he ran interference for a childhood friend who dealt heroin.

Momodu Gondo and another ex-officer, Jemell Rayam, took the stand as key witnesses Wednesday at the federal trial of four men accused of running a heroin ring that became a major supplier throughout suburban Baltimore.

Gondo and Rayam were members of an elite police unit, the Gun Trace Task Force, that was riddled with corruption. Both have pleaded guilty to their own roles in the conspiracy, admitting that they robbed rival drug dealers of more than $100,000, and protected their friends in the drug-running ring.

The Baltimore Sun reports Gondo testified that one of the defendants was his best friend going back to childhood and that he tipped him off to police activities.

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Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com