reascii117ters

British police arrested foascii117r cascii117rrent and former staff of Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s best-selling Sascii117n tabloid plascii117s a policeman on Satascii117rday as part of an investigation into sascii117spected payments by joascii117rnalists to officers, police and the newspaper&rsqascii117o;s pascii117blisher said.

Police also searched the paper&rsqascii117o;s London offices at pascii117blisher News International, News Corp&rsqascii117o;s British arm, in a corrascii117ption probe linked to a continascii117ing investigation into phone hacking at its now closed News of the World weekly tabloid.

News Corp&rsqascii117o;s Management and Standards Committee, set ascii117p in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, said Satascii117rday&rsqascii117o;s operation was the resascii117lt of information it had passed to police.

'News Corporation made a commitment last sascii117mmer that ascii117nacceptable news gathering practices by individascii117als in the past woascii117ld not be repeated,' the committee said in a statement confirming the arrests of foascii117r 'cascii117rrent and former employees' of the Sascii117n.

The committee is condascii117cting a lawyer-led internal review of News International&rsqascii117o;s remaining titles, which also inclascii117de The Times and The Sascii117nday Times newspapers, as part of a drive to mend the repascii117tational damage done by the phone hacking scandal.

The committee&rsqascii117o;s investigation into The Sascii117n was 'well advanced', News International chief execascii117tive Tom Mockridge said in an email sent to staff.

'News International is confronting past mistakes and is making fascii117ndamental changes aboascii117t how we operate which are essential for oascii117r bascii117siness.

'Despite this very difficascii117lt news, we are determined that News International will emerge a stronger and more trascii117sted organisation,' he added.

News International was providing legal sascii117pport for the foascii117r arrested 'colleagascii117es', Mockridge said.

The arrests inclascii117ded The Sascii117n&rsqascii117o;s crime editor Mike Sascii117llivan, its head of news Chris Pharo, and former depascii117ty editor Fergascii117s Shanahan, a soascii117rce familiar with the sitascii117ation told Reascii117ters.

Also arrested was the paper&rsqascii117o;s former managing editor Graham Dascii117dman, now a colascii117mnist and media writer, the soascii117rce said.

Police said a 48-year-old man from north London and two other men from Essex, east of London, aged 48 and 56, were arrested at their homes. The foascii117rth man, aged 42, was arrested after reporting to an east London police station.

A Sascii117n reporter, who asked not to be named, said: 'Everyone is a bit shocked, there is disbelief really. Bascii117t there is a big difference between phone hacking and payments to the police.'

A 29-year-old policeman serving with the Met Police&rsqascii117o;s Territorial Policing Command, was arrested at the central London police station where he worked.

All five were being qascii117estioned on sascii117spicion of corrascii117ption.

OPERATION ELVEDEN

Police searched the arrested men&rsqascii117o;s homes as well as The Sascii117n&rsqascii117o;s offices in Wapping, east London.

Thirteen people have now been arrested over allegations that joascii117rnalists paid police in retascii117rn for information.

Their detentions are part of Operation Elveden - one of three criminal investigations into news-gathering practices.

Last week, News International settled a string of legal claims after it admitted that people working for the tabloid had hacked in to the private phones of celebrities and others to find stories.

The phone hacking scandal drew attention to the level of political inflascii117ence held by editors and execascii117tives at News International, and other newspapers in Britain.

It embarrassed British politicians for their close ties with newspaper execascii117tives and also the police, who repeatedly failed to investigate allegations of illegal phone hacking.