Detectives investigating corrupt payments to police as part of the wider newspaper phone-hacking scandal said today they had arrested a 57-year-old retired officer from Scotland Yard's Specialist Operations command.
The man, who has not been named, was held at his home in Surrey on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.
He was the 27th person to have been held as part of Operation Elveden, which is running alongside the main hacking probe, Operation Weeting.
Police said his arrest was the result of information supplied by the Management Standards Committee of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, whose now-defunct title the News of the World is at the centre of the hacking inquiries.
He is being questioned at a London police station and his home searched, they added in a statement.
Reuters