Defence Staff Held In Illegal Payments Probe

A serving member of the Armed Forces, a Ministry of Defence worker and five Sun journalists are among eight people arrested over claims of illegal payments to police and public officials.

A serving police officer was also held on Saturday morning by the Metropolitan Police , who said the arrests were made as part of the Operation Elveden investigation into illegal payments.

It is the first time the investigation has spread beyond payments to police to corruption in a public office.

Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said the deputy editor of The Sun, Geoff Webster, was one of those detained.

Others included picture editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker, and reporter John Sturgis.

Six of the eight people arrested have now been released on bail, according to police. Two remain in custody.

The Sun's editor Dominic Mohan said: "I'm as shocked as anyone by today's arrests but am determined to lead The Sun through these difficult times.

"I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday's newspaper."

A journalist at the newspaper told Sky: "Journalists at The Sun believe this is a witchhunt against one newspaper."

Rupert Murdoch has reassured staff of his "total commitment" to The Sun following the arrests.

In an internal memo to staff at News International in Wapping, in east London, where The Sun is based, chief executive Tom Mockridge said he had had a "personal assurance" from Mr Murdoch that he would continue to own and publish the paper.

All eight people are being questioned at police stations in London, Kent, Essex and Wiltshire.

Their home addresses were searched and officers also searched offices at News International, which also publishes The Times and The Sunday Times.

News Corp - parent company of News International - said its management and standards committee had provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to the arrests.

The company said in a statement that it had also provided the option of "immediate legal representation" to those arrested.

"News Corporation... is committed to making certain that legitimate journalism is vigorously pursued in both the public interest and in full compliance with the law," the statement said.

The Ministry of Defence said it would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

It is the second high-profile batch of arrests at The Sun in as many weeks.

Senior Sun employees Chris Pharo, 42, and Mike Sullivan along with former executives Fergus Shanahan, 57, and Graham Dudman, were named by sources as suspects facing corruption allegations in the preview batch of arrests. All five were released on bail.

The previous arrests was described by sources within News Corporation as "draining the swamp".

Operation Elveden - which runs alongside the Met's Operation Weeting team - was launched as the phone-hacking scandal erupted last July with allegations about the now-defunct News Of The World targeting murder victim Milly Dowler's mobile phone.