London: A 35-year-old-man on Wednesday became the 16th suspect to be arrested by British police as part of the investigation into phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid of media baron Rupert Murdoch.
Officers from Scotland Yard arrested the unnamed man early morning after a swoop on his home.
He was taken to a north London police station for questioning on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages.
The man is currently still in custody at the police station, the BBC reported.
A total of 16 people have now been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking since ‘Operation Weeting’ – Scotland Yard’s fresh investigation into the illegal interception of voicemails – was launched in January.
Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson are among those who have already been arrested as part of the inquiry.
The scandal has led Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates to resign, and the News of the World to close down in July after 168 years of publication.
The tabloid’s royal editor Clive Goodman and a private detective Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking in 2007.
Police reopened the case in January this year after fresh allegations emerged that a murdered girl was among those targeted by journalists of the News of the World.
James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and boss of the News Corp subsidiary that published the tabloid, told lawmakers in July he was unaware of an email which contradicted the company’s stance that hacking was limited to one journalist.
But Tom Crone, former legal manager of the News of the World, said on Tuesday that he informed Murdoch about the document in a 15-minute meeting in 2008, when they discussed a lawsuit brought against the paper alleging phone hacking. (PTI)