Unnamed man held over phone-hacking inquiry at News International. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
A key new arrest has been made in the ongoing phone-hacking scandal.
The unnamed man apparently did not know he was going to be taken into custody when he arrived by appointment at a police station in London at 11am on Tuesday to answer questions about the phone-hacking scandal.
Police from both Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan police investigation into alleged phone hacking, and Elveden, the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police, are understood to have been involved.
The development is the latest in a scandal that has already caused the closure of a 168-year-old newspaper, the News of the World, and the resignation of two top police officers, as well as 10 arrests.
The man at the centre of the new arrest is believed to have been a key figure at News International. He is understood to have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1 (1) Criminal Law Act 1977, and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
They are the same allegations that Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor and ex-News International chief executive, faces since her arrest last month.
After being questioned by police – a process that, judging by previous arrests, could last for many hours – the man is expected to be released on bail until October.
Others arrested and bailed have included Brooks, ex-NoW editor Andy Coulson, ex-NoW assistant editor Ian Edmondson, ex-NoW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, senior ex-NoW journalist James Weatherup, freelance journalist Terenia Taras, an unnamed 63-year-old man, and ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/02/phone-hacking-scandal-new-arrest
