British police arrested a 18-year-old man believed to be a leader of computer hacking groups that boasted attacks on the networks of the CIA, Sony and Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

On the 27th of July, officers from the Metropolitan Police Service's (MPS) Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) arrested the teenager in a pre-planned intelligence-led operation.

The police believes that the teenager is be linked to a continuing international investigation into the criminal activity of the so-called "hacktivist" groups Anonymous and LulzSec, and allegedly uses the online nickname "Topiary" which is presented as the spokesperson for the groups.

The young man was arrested and was transported to a police station in central London. A search is underway at the address.

The police also searched a residential address in Lincolnshire. A 17-year-old male was being interviewed under caution at a Lincolnshire police station in connection with the inquiry. He has not been arrested.

The latest police operation is linked to PCeU's investigation into network intrusions and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against a number of international business and intelligence agencies by what is believed to be the same hacking group.

Anonymous and LulzSec groups issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that the FBI had wrongfully arrested some of their supporters for participating in "digital sit-ins." The statement also urged supporters to boycott PayPal electronic payment service. It asked supporters to close their PayPal accounts.

In related news, South Korea' communications regulator said Thursday hackers from China had attacked an Internet portal and blogging site operated by SK Comms, accessing the personal information (including phone numbers, e-mail addresses, names and coded data of users) of up to 35 million users in what could be the country's biggest cyber attack so far.