By IANS,
London : Five employees of British newspaper The Sun, a police officer, an employee of the defence ministry and a member of the armed forces were arrested Saturday as part of an inquiry into illegal payments to police and officials, CNN reported.
The Metropolitan Police said offices of the News International group in east London as well as the homes of those arrested were searched.
News International, which owns The Sun, is the British unit of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
The arrests were part of “Operation Elveden”, a probe running parallel with a police inquiry into alleged phone hacking by News International employees.
News Corp’s management and standards committee said it provided the information to the investigation which led to Saturday’s operation.
Five men aged between 45 and 68 were arrested in London, Kent and Essex on suspicion of corruption, aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office, and conspiracy in relation to both offences.
News Corp said it “remains committed to ensuring that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past will not be repeated”.
News Corp established its management and standards committee following the 2011 scandal over alleged hacking of voicemail that led to the closure of the News of the World tabloid.
The revelation that a murdered 13-year-old girl’s phone was hacked by journalists in search of stories, and that many other crime and terror victims, politicians and celebrities had also been targeted, prompted widespread outrage in Britain.