Japanese police arrest US tourist after finding dismembered female body

Police discover severed body parts in a number of locations

A severed head of a female was found at this lodging facility in the port city of Osaka (EPA)

An American tourist has been arrested in Japan after police found dismembered body parts scattered across a number of locations across the west of the country, which are believed to be from a local woman he met through a dating app.

The 26-year-old man from New York, who has been named in Japanese media as Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar.

Investigators made the gruesome discovery after he was arrested on suspicion of confining the woman, who had been missing since 16 February, to a rental property in Osaka’s Higashinari ward.

The woman has not been named, but local media have cited police sources saying she was aged 27 and from Sandra city, in neighbouring Hyogo.

The pair got in contact through a dating app which matches foreigners with Japanese people, the country's Kyodo News agency reported. She is said to have gone missing after telling a friend she had planned to meet a man she had met through a social networking app.

Police later found what appeared to be the woman’s head inside a suitcase at a different flat which the man had reportedly booked in Osaka via a private holiday rental.

They later found a torso and a pair of arms in the mountainous part of the Osaka district. A pair of legs were found 32 miles away in Kyoto.

Security camera footage showed the woman and a man believed to be the suspect, meeting in Osaka and entering a flat together on 16 February, local media reported. Separate footage was said to show the man leaving the build alone multiple times carrying a large bag.

The cause of death remains unclear. Police have reportedly described the body parts as having no clear injuries other than from where they were severed.

According to the Mainichi newspaper, Mr Bayraktar is thought to have used dating apps to speak to several different women since he arrived in Japan in January.

It is believed he has taken numerous other women to the same Higashinari apartment. Police, however, have confirmed they are safe.

Additional reporting from Reuters