Suitcase bodies may be missing Chinese

Two bodies found stuffed inside suitcases abandoned in mountainous forest near Tokyo are suspected to be missing Chinese sisters, local media reported on Friday.

Police officers reportedly found the corpses folded inside the bags at two separate sites in the woods on Thursday, media said.

Police are trying to identify the bodies. They said these bodies might be two Chinese sisters who were living in Yokohama and missing since July 6.

Parts of the corpses are in a state of decay.

The Chinese embassy in Tokyo said the two sisters' mother contacted them on Tuesday and asked for help to find them. The embassy has urged the Japanese police to try their best to break the case.

Japanese media reported that a security camera showed a man in his 30s going in and out the sisters' apartment many times and taking several big suitcases with him before the pair went missing.

The man is said to be a frequent customer at a restaurant where the elder sister worked. Kanagawa police are looking for him as a suspect in the killings.

The sisters - Chen Baolan, 25, and Chen Baoling, 21 - were from China's Fujian province. The younger one was a student.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Yokohama chapter of the Fujian Economy and Culture Promotion Association in Japan said the group has contacted the Chinese embassy immediately after learning that the women were missing.

Grisly murder cases often grab headlines in Japan, though the country is known as one of the world's safest with an annual murder rate of less than one per 100,000 people.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this story.

caihong@chinadaily.com.cn