TEHRAN - Iran's Intelligence Ministry confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of some local employees of British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), the state IRIB TV website reported.

Without referring to the number of the detained people or identifying them, the announcement by Intelligence Ministry was quoted as saying that the agents have arrested some members of an illegal network who were working for BBC.

The announcement said the arrested people were conducting spying and intelligence services for Britain under the cover of cooperating with BBC, according to the report.

Through underground and illegal activities, the detained people received huge amount of money, said the announcement.

The Intelligence Ministry said that some other suspects are being prosecuted for the same reason and in the following days more information will be released about the issue.

On Sunday, Iran's another state-run IRINN TV website reported that Iran had arrested six Iranian nationals working for the Farsi- language service of BBC.

Six BBC employees, including a woman, were arrested for distributing photos, videos and information to reflect negative image of Iran, the IRINN website said.

The report did not reveal the names of the detained people, but said that the underground members of BBC network in Iran had received tens of thousands of US dollars to work for the corporation.

The BBC denied on Monday that the arrested six people were its employees and said that the Islamic Republic detained independent filmmakers.

The BBC Farsi language service said that no one works for the corporation inside Iran either formally or informally.

Iran's judiciary have banned Iranians from working for BBC which has no office in Iran, accusing the corporation of provoking discord and unrest in the country.