London ( CNN ) -- Six people were arrested Wednesday in what London 's Metropolitan Police is calling a separate phone-hacking conspiracy at Rupert Murdoch 's defunct News of the World newspaper . All of them are journalists or former journalists , police said . Tabloid hacking report : Who won ? Who lost ? Dozens of people , including Murdoch protÃ©gÃ© Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson , a former adviser to prime Minister David Cameron , already have been arrested and several have been charged with phone hacking and related crimes . Police say Wednesday 's arrests are part of a separate conspiracy to hack phones , primarily from 2005 to 2006 , at the News of the World . How Murdoch bounced back from his 'most humble day ' Three men and two women were arrested in London and one woman in Cheshire , in northern England . Searches are being carried out at several addresses , police said . `` In due course officers will be making contact with people they believe have been victims of the suspected voicemail interceptions , '' a police statement said . Murdoch closed the Sunday tabloid , one of the world 's best-selling English-language newspapers , in 2011 over the phone-hacking scandal . Three police investigations were created to look into allegations of phone hacking , bribery of public officials and computer hacking . Rupert Murdoch : The last press baron . Brooks and Coulson are both former News of the World editors . Brooks later became chief executive of News International , a UK subsidiary of Murdoch 's News Corp. empire . Coulson went on to become Cameron 's director of communications before resigning early in 2011 . The hacking scandal prompted Cameron to set up an independent , judge-led inquiry -- named for Lord Justice Leveson , its chairman -- to make recommendations on journalistic ethics and examine the relationship of the press with the public , police and politicians .
NEW : Six current or former journalists are arrested in connection with alleged phone hacking . Police say the alleged phone - hacking conspiracy is separate from one already being probed . London 's Metropolitan Police is running three investigations into alleged wrongdoing . Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the World after the scandal broke in 2011 .