A woman detective at Scotland Yard was arrested today on suspicion of receiving illegal payments from journalists.
The 52-year-old officer was held by colleagues from her own force in a dawn swoop on her Essex home.
She is the first police officer to be arrested in the Operation Elveden inquiry into corruption within the force.
The inquiry, which is running along side phone-hacking investigation Operation Weeting, is focusing on claims that journalists made illegal payments to serving police officers in exchange for information and stories.
The woman is understood to be a detective in the Met's specialist operations branch. She was being questioned today at a police station in Essex.
Most of the inquiry's arrests so far have been journalists. The action today marks a significant new phase. The Met refused to give details of the arrest other than to say a serving officer was held on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and offences contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
It comes less than a week after detectives questioned former News of the World crime editor Lucy Panton over alleged payments to officers.
The specialist operations command at the Met includes the counter terrorism squad and protection officers involved in guarding the royal family and senior politicians.
Detectives are thought to be examining claims that reporters paid sums of up to £100,000 to royalty protection officers for private contact details of the family, although the detective arrested today is not believed to be a member of the unit.
Several journalists have been arrested so far in the Elveden inquiry. They include Jamie Pyatt, a serving reporter from The Sun, who was the tabloid's Thames Valley reporter.
Pyatt, 48, was the first Sun employee to be implicated in the scandal when he was arrested in November. So far all those arrested have been bailed until April next year.
Read More
Operation Elveden was launched in July after News International provided the police with emails which alleged that corrupt police officers had received payments totalling about £130,000 over several years.
