Fears missing Chinese sisters murdered in Japan

Police in Japan believe the bodies of two women found in Yokohama on Wednesday are those of two Chinese sisters who went missing a week ago.

The bodies were reportedly discovered in luggage abandoned in a forest in the Kanagawa Prefecture, said the Kyodo News Agency.

The police are currently attempting to identify the body.

The forest in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture where the two bodies were found. [Photo: Agencies]

The missing Chinese sisters—Chen Baolan, 25, and Chen Baoling, 22—came from east China's Fujian province.

According to the Wechat social media account of the 'Tokyo Chinese Association', the sisters went missing on July 6. A friend said they had tried to get in touch with Baolan but received no reply.  Later in the day a friend of the younger sister, Baoling, said that she had been absent from work without reason.

Acting on their suspicions, they reported the two missing, and called on the police to check surveillance video.

It's reported the cameras picked up a man wearing a cap and face mask entering Chen Baolan’s house with a key at around one o’clock in the early morning. He came and went several times. On one occasion a rope he was holding in his arms fell to the ground. He was seen to pick it up and conceal it again.

The younger sister went home at 5 a.m. but never came back out. Five hours later, the man left with a big bag.

It's understood the police are interviewing a man in his thirties, who was a regular customer at the restaurant where Chen Baolan worked, according to Kyodo News Agency.

The parents of the sisters have requested help from the Chinese Embassy in Japan, who have met with the authorities and have urged the police to solve the case as soon as possible and inform them of the latest developments in the investigation.