British police have arrested a man suspected of involvement in a plot targeting lawmakers and journalists with flirtatious text messages in an effort to obtain illicit photos that could be used as blackmail.
In a statement on Wednesday, London’s Metropolitan Police (Met) said that a suspect had been arrested, with British media reporting that the suspect is a man in his mid-20s and a member of the opposition Labour Party.
“A man was arrested on suspicion of harassment and committing offences under the Online Safety Act. He was taken into custody where he remains,” the statement reads.
“The arrest relates to an investigation being carried out by the Met’s Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team following reports of unsolicited messages sent to MPs and others. The investigation remains ongoing.”
The opposition Labour Party was notified of the arrest of a party member and immediately suspended his membership. The party, widely expected to dominate next week’s upcoming elections, has not commented further, citing an ongoing police investigation.
The investigation began in April after it was suggested that at least 12 men with links to Westminster had received unsolicited messages in a so-called honeytrap plot.
An unknown scammer is said to have used the aliases “Charlie” and “Abi” while sending flirtatious messages to attempt to coax members of parliament (MPs) and other figures in political circles into sending explicit pictures.
A lawmaker from the ruling Conservative Party resigned in April after saying that he had sent intimate photos and passed along the contact information of government colleagues to a suspected scammer.
Initial speculation over the plot focused on the possibility of the involvement of hostile foreign governments.
