An anonymous reader writes: A 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of hacking phones, police said Wednesday, the 12th person detained over the long-running scandal.
“At approximately midday today a 61-year-old man was arrested by appointment at a London police station by officers from Operation Weeting and is currently in custody,” Scotland Yard said in a statement.
A police source said the arrested man was former News of the World news editor Greg Miskiw, who said last month that he was planning to return to Britain from his home in Florida for questioning.
Operation Weeting is the police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid shut down last month over the scandal.
The man was arrested on suspicion of unlawful interception of communications and on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, police said.
Police began investigating phone hacking in 2006, which resulted in the jailing of the News of the World’s royal editor and a private investigator.
In January, the probe was reopened amid revelations that the practice of illegally accessing private voicemails was widespread at the paper.
Among those arrested so far are former News of the World editors Andy Coulson, who quit as Prime Minister David Cameron’s media chief in January, and Rebekah Brooks, who quit as chief executive of Murdoch’s British media empire last month.