A man has been arrested on suspicion of collecting information “likely to be useful for terrorists” following last week’s Northern Ireland Police data breach.

The force declared a critical incident after data on all 10,000 of its officers and staff was accidentally disclosed online.

It was followed by disclosure of a second breach in July relating to stolen documents and a laptop.

Detectives carried out a search in Lurgan, County Armagh, today and arrested a 39-year-old man.

Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Hill said: “We are working tirelessly to address the risk posed to officers and staff. Today’s search operation, and subsequent arrest, is just one piece of a large-scale operation.

“We will continue in our efforts to disrupt criminal activity associated with this Freedom of Information (FOI) data breach and to keep communities, and our officers and staff who serve them, safe.”

Sky’s senior Ireland correspondent, David Blevins, said police are not investigating the data breach itself, but that the arrest comes after the leaked information had been widely circulated online.

He said the arrested man was being questioned at the serious crime suite at Belfast’s Musgrave police station.

The leaked names appeared online for two hours after the force responded to the FOI request and the data is thought to now be in possession of dissident republicans.

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A redacted version of the document was earlier this week posted on a wall facing a Sinn Fein office in Belfast in a “sinister” attempt to intimidate one of its politicians.

“There are serious concerns among police officers and staff – the police federation her is calling for maximum vigilance,” said Blevins.

The terrorist threat in Northern Ireland is now deemed to be “severe”.

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