Body in suitcase: Two Pakistanis arrested

SINGAPORE - Police have arrested two Pakistani nationals in connection with Wednesday's grisly find of a dismembered body in Syed Alwi Road, which they have classified as murder.

The two men, aged 25 and 43, were nabbed at about 3pm yesterday at a two-storey shophouse in Rowell Road, not far from where the body was first found stuffed in a suitcase.

The body of the victim, whom police have established to be a 59-year-old man from Pakistan, was discovered without his legs.

Last night, police sent a statement saying that they recovered a pair of legs from the vicinity of Jalan Kubor.

Investigations are ongoing, said a spokesman.

In an earlier statement yesterday, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Hoong Wee Teck, who is also deputy commissioner for investigations and intelligence, said that extensive police resources were dedicated to solving the crime expeditiously.

After the first call regarding the incident was received at 6.04pm on Wednesday, officers from CID, the Police Intelligence Department, and the Central and Tanglin police divisions were activated.

More than 100 officers were involved in the operation.

Plainclothes officers were seen looking for clues in the neighbourhood and taking photos.

They also asked people about a photo of two South Asians, said eyewitnesses.

One image appeared to be of a man in his 40s and the other, of a teenager.

"The older man had a beard, and he was wearing a turban and a long, white shirt, while the younger boy was in a short-sleeved shirt and pants," said the owner of bicycle shop Teck Bee Brothers, who gave his name only as Mr Lim.

The police also asked to view footage recorded by a closed-circuit TV camera at a temple in Syed Alwi Road.

The Straits Times understands that an 81-year-old man and two South Asian men, who were seen by a cleaner trying to move the blood-soaked suitcase on Wednesday, are no longer assisting with police investigations.

This article was first published on June 13, 2014.
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