Met officers investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials arrested a 39-year-old journalist and two serving officers this morning.
All three men were arrested at their separate home addresses at 6am this morning by officers from Operation Elveden in connection with a number of suspected offences between 2004 and 2011.
A 39-year-old journalist was arrested in Hertfordshire on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and suspected conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office. He is being interviewed at a police station in north London.
He has been widely identified this morning as The Sun journalist Anthony France.
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So far around 50 journalists have been arrested in the course of the Met's various phone hacking-related investigations.
A 47-year-old serving police officer with the Met’s Specialist Operations command was arrested in Surrey on suspected misconduct in a public office and suspected corruption contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. He will be interviewed at a Surrey police station.
A 30-year-old serving police officer in the Met’s Specialist Crime and Operations command was arrested in Surrey on suspected misconduct in a public office and suspected corruption contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. He is being interviewed at a south London police station.
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Fifty-six people have now been arrested in connection with the Operation Elveden probe.
The Met said a number of searches also are being carried out.
In a statement the force said today's arrests were the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee, adding:
They relate to suspected payments to police officers and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately
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