British detectives arrested a former police special operations officer as part of an investigation into phone-hacking and bribery at Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, Scotland Yard said on Thursday.

The unnamed 57-year-old man was arrested in a dawn raid at his house in Surrey, southwest of London, on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, the force said in a statement.

He previously served in the Metropolitan Police's specialist operations command and retired several years ago, it said.