This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A Sun journalist has been arrested as part of Scotland Yard's investigation into alleged payments to police officers by newspapers.

The reporter is understood to be Jamie Pyatt, district editor of the paper. He was taken to a south-west London police station at 10.30am on Friday. Pyatt, 48, has been working at the Sun since 1987.

He is the sixth person arrested by detectives working on Operation Elveden, which was set up in July following allegations that police officers had received up to £130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, including contact details for the royal family.

News International, which owned the now-defunct paper, confirmed that an employee had been arrested. "News International is co-operating fully with the Metropolitan Police Service in its various investigations," a spokesman said.

Scotland Yard refused to confirm the identity of the man arrested, but said in a statement that it had arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with Operation Elveden. Its statement said: "He was arrested outside London on suspicion of corruption allegations in contravention of section one of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906." The man was released tonight on bail until March next year.

Operation Elveden is one of three Met investigations relating to alleged illegal activities by newspapers. The others are Operation Weeting and Operation Tuleta, set up to examine phone hacking and computer hacking respectively.

On Thursday, Scotland Yard confirmed that the number of people whose phones may have been hacked had reached 5,800 – 2,000 more than previously stated.

So far, 16 people have been arrested and bailed on allegations of phone hacking.

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