LONDON (AP) — British police investigating corrupt links between police and reporters said they arrested two journalists for questioning Wednesday.
The men, who are 34 and 37, were detained at their homes in an early-morning raid, police said.
Both were questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and of a conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office, police said. The men were later released on bail to return for further questioning in October.
The arrests are related to suspected payments made to a specific public official.
Trinity Mirror PLC, publisher of the Daily Mirror tabloid, identified one of those arrested as Justin Penrose, a Sunday Mirror crime reporter. The company said it was cooperating fully with police.
So far, 41 people have been arrested in a U.K. police probe into press wrongdoing and corruption. The investigation is tied to a parallel probe into Britain's phone hacking scandal, which has rocked Britain's media and political institutions and led to criminal charges against several people including Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper division.
Penrose was not the first Mirror journalist arrested in connection with the corruption probe, which focuses on payments to officials for information that could lead to scoops that help sell newspapers.
Last week, police arrested former Daily Mirror reporter Greig Box Turnbull, who often wrote prison stories, in connection with alleged bribery of police and other officials.
