Police investigating phone hacking and police bribery at defunct British tabloid News of the World on Tuesday arrested a man, believed to be a former executive at the newspaper.

The Metropolitan Police said a 71-year-old man had been arrested by appointment Tuesday morning at a London police station. They did not name him in keeping with the British police practice of not identifying suspects who have not been charged.

Sky News, which is 39 percent owned by the newspaper's parent company, News Corp., identified him as former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner.

Kuttner retired in 2009 after 29 years at the News of the World, 22 of them as managing editor.

News International — Murdoch's British newspaper division — would not confirm the arrested man's identity.

Police said he was in custody and being questioned on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications — phone hacking — and on suspicion of corruption, which relates to claims that journalists bribed police officers for information.

Detectives investigating claims the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper illegally eavesdropped on the phone messages of celebrities, politicians and even crime victims have previously arrested 10 people, including Murdoch's former British newspaper chief Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, an ex-News of the World editor who went on to be Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief.