A serving police officer and four current and former employees of The Sun newspaper have been arrested over inappropriate payments to police officers in the phone-hacking inquiry.
The 29-year-old male officer was arrested at a police station in central London where he works and four men, aged between 42 and 56, have also been detained, Scotland Yard confirmed.
The suspects were arrested under Operation Elveden, which runs alongside the Operation Weeting hacking inquiry.
Officers are searching the offices of News International in Wapping, east London, and the home addresses of the suspects, a spokesman said.
The officer, who serves with the MPS Territorial Policing command, is being questioned at a south London police station.
He was arrested on suspicion of corruption, misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to the offences.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Today's operation is the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management and standards committee.
"It relates to suspected payments to police officers and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."
In a statement, News Corporation, the parent company of News International which owns The Sun and The Times, said:
"Metropolitan Police Service officers from Operation Elveden today arrested four current and former employees from The Sun newspaper.
"Searches have also taken place at the homes and offices of those arrested.
"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated.
"It commissioned the Management and Standards Committee (MSC) to undertake a review of all News International titles, regardless of cost, and to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those titles.
"As a result of that review, which is ongoing, the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today's arrests."
- Keywords:
- news international,
- phone hacking
