Merseyside police said they had arrested five men suspected of bribery and witness intimidation in connection with a year-long investigation into property developers.

Axar.az reports the Liverpool Echo reported that Mayor Joe Anderson was among the detained suspects.

The mayor of Liverpool and four other men have been arrested for bribery and witness intimidation.

Merseyside police said on Friday that the arrests of Mayor Joe Anderson and four unnamed others were in connection with an "ongoing investigation" into building and development contracts in the city.

The year-long Operation Aloft probe focused on a number of property developers.

The other suspects were later only identified as a 62-year-old man from Old Swan, a 33-year-old man from West Derby and a 46-year-old man from Ainsdale, who were all arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation, while a 25-year-old man from Ormskirk and 72-year-old man from Aigburth were arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.

The Liverpool Echo reported that the 62-year-old was in fact Anderson, who became Liverpool's first directly-elected mayor in 2012. The BBC reported that the Labour Party had already suspended the mayor.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Liverpool council said the mayor should "step away" from his post while the investigation continued.