British police said on Thursday they had arrested another suspect as part of their investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World newspaper, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

The 60-year-old man was held at an address in the London area on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and is now being questioned at a police station in west London.

He is the ninth person to be arrested since the inquiry was reopened by detectives in January this year.

They are investigating allegations that journalists on the now-defunct paper hacked the phones of members of the royal family, politicians and celebrities, as well as victims of crime, including child murders and the 2005 London bombings, to listen to their voicemail messages.

Last week, detectives arrested the paper's former editor Andy Coulson, who went on to become Prime Minister David Cameron's media chief before resigning in January.

In April, the paper's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, one of its senior reporters James Weatherup, and Ian Edmondson, a former senior editor who was sacked after an internal inquiry into his conduct, were also quizzed about the claims.

(Reporting by Michael Holden)

Rupert murdoch Phone Hacking