EIGHT PEOPLE – including five senior journalists at The Sun newspaper – have been arrested by police investigating the alleged receipt of corrupt payments by public officials and police officers.
The Metropolitan Police said the eight people had been arrested as part of its Operation Elveden investigation into alleged corrupt payments to figures in exchange for access to news stories.
The BBC said News Corporation had confirmed five of its employees from The Sun were arrested.
In a statement, News Corp – which owns News International, the publisher of the Sun – said it was “committed to making certain that legitimate journalism is vigorously pursued in both the public interest and in full compliance with the law.”
Sky News said they included the paper’s deputy editor, Geoff Webster, and its picture editor John Edwards.
Other staff included its chief reporter John Kay, its chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker, and reporter John Sturgis.
It also quoted an unnamed journalist at the paper who said staff there were now fearful that the paper could be closed entirely, as its sister paper the News of the World had been when it was tainted by allegations of phone-hacking.
Among the other three people arrested were a serving police officer, a serving member of the armed forces, and an employee of Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
Police are also thought to be searching News International’s offices in Wapping.
Four other current and former members of staff at The Sun were arrested in a similar early raid two weeks ago.
Additional reporting by AP
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