Two teenagers charged over Met Police website ‘hack’

Two teenagers in Scotland have been arrested after the Metropolitan Police’s website was allegedly hacked several months ago.

A number of tweets were sent from the force’s Twitter account on July 19 calling for the release of drill rap artist Digga D.

One since-deleted post read: “We aim to make London the safest global city; Be the best crime-fighters, by any measure; Earn the trust and confidence of every community; Take pride in the quality of our service; So people love, respect and are proud of London’s Met.”

Another said: “FREE DIGGA D ON FOENEM GANG.”

Scotland Yard said at the time there had been no hack of its IT infrastructure and the security issue only affected its MyNewsDesk account used to issue news releases.

On Friday officers in Scotland confirmed two teenagers aged 18 and 19, from Lossiemouth in Moray and Glasgow, had been arrested in connection with the incident.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Two men, aged 18 and 19, from the Lossiemouth and Glasgow areas respectively, have been arrested and charged in connection with unauthorised access and publication of content on the Metropolitan Police Service’s news platform on Friday July 19 2019.

“A report will be submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.”

President Donald Trump used the incident as an opportunity to attack Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

He quoted a tweet from commentator Katie Hopkins which said officers have “lost control of London streets” and “lost control of their Twitter account too”.

Mr Trump added: “With the incompetent Mayor of London, you will never have safe streets!”

Rapper Digga D, whose real name is Rhys Herbert, was jailed last year aged 17 alongside four other members of the 1011 gang after they were caught with baseball bats and machetes on their way to attack rivals.