London Cops Nab 4 Journos in Bribery Case

London police today arrested four current and former Sun journalists for allegedly paying off police, the Guardian reports. All had worked under Rebekah Brooks when she edited the Sun—whose Sunday sister paper News of the World closed last year amid a phone hacking scandal. The arrests may cast fresh light on Brooks' statement in 2003 that "we have paid the police for information in the past," and her later denial that she had "knowledge of any specific cases."

The journalists arrested today: crime reporter Mike Sullivan; former managing editor Graham Dudman; news desk executive Chris Pharo; and Fergus Shanahan, an executive editor. Scotland Yard says News Corp, which owns the Sun, tipped it off for the arrests. "It relates to suspected payments to police officers and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources," said Scotland Yard. As for Brooks, she now faces charges related to the phone hacking scandal. (More Rebekah Brooks stories.)