Five staff at Britain's largest selling tabloid The Sun arrested

PanARMENIAN.Net - Five staff at Britain's largest selling tabloid The Sun were arrested Saturday, Feb 11, along with three other people over alleged bribes paid to police and defense officials, detectives and the newspaper's parent company said.

The Associated Press reported that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said in a statement that police had also searched the homes of the five staff and the group's London offices, potentially deepening the scandal over British tabloid wrongdoing.

A 39-year-old female employee at Britain's ministry of defense, a 36-year-old male member of the armed forces and a 39-year-old serving police officer with Surrey Police, were also arrested in an early morning swoop, police said.

The arrests of the staff at The Sun, purchased by Murdoch in 1969 and long regarded as the jewel in his British media empire, follow the arrests last month of four current and former journalists at the newspaper in connection with the same bribery inquiry.

A total of 21 people have now been arrested in the bribery probe - including three police officers - though none has yet been charged. They include Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International; ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson - who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief; and journalists from both the News of the World and The Sun.

Britain's Sky News and other British media reported Saturday that those arrested Saturday were The Sun's current deputy editor Geoff Webster, chief reporter John Kay, picture editor John Edwards, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and reporter John Sturgis. News Corp. would not publicly confirm the identities of those detained.

Initially the police investigation - which is running parallel to inquiries into phone hacking and alleged email hacking - was focused on whether reporters had illegally paid police officers for information. Detectives said Saturday they had extended the scope of the probe, known as Operation Elveden, to include other public officials.