News International offices searched as four more men are arrested

Four men, including a serving police officer, have been arrested in connection with Scotland Yard's investigation into payments to police officers by journalists. Police are also carrying out searches of the News International offices in Wapping, east London, and the homes of the four people. A 29-year-old serving police officer was arrested at his place of work in central London on suspicion of corruption and misconduct in public office. The officer, of the Met's territorial policing unit, is the second police officer to be arrested under the Operation Elveden investigation. A 48-year-old man and a 56-year-old man were arrested at their homes in Essex. Another man, aged 48, was held at his home in north London. All three were arrested on suspicion of corruption and aiding and abetting misconduct in public office. Scotland Yard said the arrests were made following information provided by News Corp's own investigation team. Rupert Murdoch set up the management and standards committee in July following the escalation of the phone-hacking scandal. According to well-placed sources, it has been conducting a forensic analysis of payments by all journalists between 2000 and 2006. A statement from the Met police said: "The arrests were made between 06.00 and 08.00 by officers from Operation Elveden, the MPS [Metropolitan police service] investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police. "The home addresses of those arrested are currently being searched, and officers are also carrying out a number of searches at the offices of News International in Wapping, east London. These searches are expected to conclude this afternoon. "Today's operation is the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management and standards committee. It relates to suspected payments to police officers and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately." All four men were being questioned at police stations in Essex and London, police said. Twelve people have so far been arrested under Operation Elveden. The operation is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and is being run in conjunction with Operation Weeting, the MPS inquiry into the phone hacking of voicemail boxes. It was launched after officers were handed documents suggesting that News International journalists made illegal payments to police officers. Others questioned as part of the inquiry include the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, the ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson, the former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman, the former News of the World crime editor Lucy Panton and the Sun district editor, Jamie Pyatt. Brooks and Coulson are both former editors of the News of the World, which was closed in July at the height of the hacking scandal following revelations that the murdered teenager Milly Dowler's phone was hacked. Deborah Glass, the deputy chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said: "It will be clear from today's events that this investigation is following the evidence. "I am satisfied with the strenuous efforts being made by this investigation to identify police officers who may have taken corrupt payments, and I believe the results will speak for themselves."

Daniel Bailey has been told to pay up £194,370 by a court. If he fails to hand over the money within six months, he will face a three-year jail term.

Daniel Bailey (35) avoided prison when he received a 26-week suspended sentence after pleading guilty to producing cannabis. But following a separate investigation into his finances by police, he has been told to pay up £194,370 by a court. If he fails to hand over the money within six months, he will face a three-year jail term.During a hearing brought by police under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Lincoln Crown Court was told officers swooped on Bailey's home, near Spalding, on August 5, 2005. They searched the property and found 22 cannabis plants growing among the flowers in his back garden.More cannabis seedlings were discovered in a shed, and two small lumps of the drug were seized in the house.Bailey was subsequently convicted of production of cannabis, which triggered the probe into his financial affairs.The further enquiries showed that in the six years before his arrest, Bailey had claimed incapacity benefit and income support to the tune of more than £21,000, to which he was

Riaz Mohammed, used a string of front companies to ship the highly addictive narcotic from Turkey.

Riaz Mohammed, used a string of front companies to ship the highly addictive narcotic from Turkey.The Court heard the "sophisticated" operation involved hiding half-kilo packages of the Class A substance in the hollowed out struts of wooden pallets. But despite the gang's best efforts each of the three importations - two to Dover docks and one which arrived at Heathrow airport - were intercepted during an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).Altogether 24kg of the drug - with an estimated street value of £2.3 million - was seized. In the dock with Mohammed, 41, of Lancaster Road, Leytonstone, east London (25 years), were his lieutenant Ibrahim Janturk, 52, from Tottenham, north London (22 years), and "footsoldiers" Cetin Albar, 35, who lived in Clapton Common, east London, and Emircan Aytac, 48, of Boyson Road, Walworth, south-east London, who got 16 years each.Mohammed was convicted by a jury of three counts of conspiracy to import heroin

Angus McDonald has pointed the finger at three of the people he says were involved with him in a plot to import millions of pounds worth of drugs

Angus McDonald drug runner has pointed the finger at three of the people he says were involved with him in a plot to import millions of pounds worth of drugs into South Cumbria.Angus McDonald, 44, was the first prosecution witness in the trial of two men and a woman accused of helping to launder some of the £35m made from importing cannabis into Windermere.One of the men, John James “Jim” Nightingale, is also accused of being one of those who conspired to import the drug from Spain. Prosecution witness McDonald, of Craig Walk, Windermere, has already pleaded guilty to drugs conspiracy and money laundering charges.Yesterday he became the key witness in the Carlisle Crown Court trial of Nightingale, Sharon Ambrose, and Duncan William Maxwell, who he says were involved with him.The court heard how a gang – led by Liverpool-born George Tymoszycki, who lived in the Lake District for several years – arranged for huge amounts of cannabis to be shipped from Spain to a cash and carry warehouse

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