The police are to double the strength of a special anti-corruption squad targeting a hard core of corrupt officers in London.

The team is being expanded to deal with the amount of information being received from former officers.

The BBC's Home Affairs Correspondent Graeme McLaglan says traps have been set to catch corrupt officers (1'01")

The special squad of experienced detectives was set up secretly to deal with what the Metropolitan Police Commander, Sir Paul Condon, says are up to 250 corrupt officers in London.

Traps were set to catch detectives suspected of stealing large amounts of money and recycling seized drugs.

The special squad's numbers were increased earlier this year after some of those under investigation confessed to corruption and started to inform on other officers.

Sir Paul Condon: "Corrupt officers damage morale"

The amount of information now being followed up is so great that the number of officers in the squad is being doubled to 120, with many officers being transferred from other important inquiries.

One allegation under investigation is that officers stole £250,000, part of the proceeds of a security van robbery.

There are also claims that a number of officers seized large amounts of drugs from dealers and then sold them back to other criminals.

Corrupt officers' relations with one London lawyer are also being investigated.

Mike Bennett tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Sir Paul Condon should "put up or shut up" (4'20")

Mike Bennett, the Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, the policeman's union, said he did not doubt that there was corruption, but said he was concerned that the investigation had not produced results.

"As a police federation we want the 250 people that the commissioner has mentioned publicly, arrested. We want convictions, not just discipline, and we want lengthy prison sentences as a deterrent," he said.

"We are not getting that, the public is not getting that and we are no further forward than we were two years ago."
 

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