Police in Barcelona have arrested two murder suspects less than a week after the discovery of parts of the body of a German man presumed murdered in a rubbish container in Barcelona.
The two men are 31 and 51 years old, the Catalan police force announced on Monday. The nationality of the 50-year-old victim had initially only been revealed by the media on Monday. However, this information was confirmed by the police to dpa.
Parts of the dismembered body had been found on Tuesday last week by a scrap dealer in a container on a busy street in the upmarket Eixample district, right in front of the building where the German had lived in a rented flat for many years, according to the caretaker.
There, "various clues were found that link this place to the possible violent death," the police announced.
According to media reports and statements by neighbours, the arrested are a 31-year-old from Ukraine and a 51-year-old Irishman, who had been living with the German as subtenants for only a short time.
They allegedly put the torso and other body parts into a suitcase and threw it into the container. The Catalan police did not initially say which region in Germany the man came from.
The two suspects were brought before a judge on Monday. The judge ordered the 51-year-old to be remanded in custody, the Catalan judiciary announced in the evening.
The younger man was released on condition, it said. However, his passport was taken from him. He is not allowed to leave Spain and has to report regularly to the judicial authorities in Barcelona.
