The police have arrested 28-year-old Zaheer Ahmed, the husband of 27-year-old Adeeba Ahmed whose body was found in a black Samsonite suitcase washed up on a mudbank at Barnes in South west London.
A check-in counter clerk for American Airlines at Heathrow Terminal Three since the last one month, the Pak-origin Ahmed had vanished on Valentine's Day. Her husband too worked at the terminal for Saudi Airlines.
She had been dropped at a hair salon in Hounslow by her husband on the afternoon of Valentine's Day hours before a dinner date with him. She reportedly told him she would call when she needed picking up but the husband told the police she never rang and failed to return home.
Mrs Ahmed, a Pak national, also failed to turn up for work at termianl three. Friends and family were alarmed at her disappearance and particularly when she did not respond to their messages on her mobile.
Scotland Yard officers found that she had not taken any clothes. Her passport and credit cards had not been used. The spot where the suitcase was found was eight miles from the hair salon. The body was not decomposed because it had not been in water for long.
{{/usCountry}}Scotland Yard officers found that she had not taken any clothes. Her passport and credit cards had not been used. The spot where the suitcase was found was eight miles from the hair salon. The body was not decomposed because it had not been in water for long.
{{/usCountry}}A post-mortem revealed she was strangled and was still clad in a black jumper and black trousers, matching the description of her outfit when seen last. Her shoes had been removed to squeeze her in the suitcase.
Forensic experts conducted a fingertip search of the scene where the suitcase had surfaced and a 50-yard stretch of footpath beside the Thames was sealed off.
Zaheer Ahmed was being questioned at a Central London police station while search teams inspected two garages on either side of the road facing the Ahmed's house in Langley Berkshire.