A 52-year-old man yesterday became the first person to be arrested in connection with claims of computer hacking by private investigators working for News International and other newspapers.
Officers from Operation Tuleta, the inquiry into email interception which runs alongside the larger Metropolitan Police investigation into phone hacking, arrested the man in Milton Keynes on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act. He was later released on police bail until next month.
Operation Tuleta was opened this summer to look into allegations that private detectives were used by newspapers to target computer equipment with "trojan" viruses which btain information from a machine without being detected.
The investigation is understood to be examining computers seized from addresses across southeast England by a team thought to number about a dozen detectives and support staff. Operation Weeting, the investigation into phone hacking, has so far led to 16 arrests. The Leveson Inquiry is expected to hear evidence next week about computer hacking.