A private detective and a former journalist were arrested today by police investigating computer hacking.
Jonathan Rees, 58, was seized in a dawn raid at his home in Surrey.
The 61-year-old former journalist was arrested at his home address in Kent.
Police officers were today searching the properties. The men were held on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act and other alleged criminal breaches of privacy.
The arrests come a week after the Evening Standard disclosed that the now defunct News of the World hired Rees to mount a surveillance operation on former Met commissioner Lord Stevens.
Derek Haslam, a former police officer who worked undercover at Rees’s private detective agency Southern Investigations, claimed they wanted information on Lord Stevens.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Two men were arrested this morning by officers investigating criminal breaches of privacy. Both were arrested shortly before 7am at their home addresses for offences under Section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and Sections 1 & 2 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
“This morning’s arrests are part of Kalmyk, the operational name for an investigation into journalism-related computer hacking which is being carried out by Operation Tuleta. These investigations are running in conjunction with MPs’ phone-hacking inquiries.”
