Murder 'may have' kidnap link

The murder victim has not yet been identified

Police have not ruled out a kidnap motive in the murder of a Chinese woman in north Belfast.

Detectives last week warned the Chinese community about a London gang suspected of planning a ransom attempt in the city.

The Chinese Welfare Association said it was not aware if the warning was linked to the murder of the woman whose body was found in the boot of a car on Thursday.

Detectives investigating the murder have been granted more time to question two Chinese men.

They are appealing for help from the community to identify the woman.

Her body was discovered after the car was stopped at a checkpoint on the Antrim Road.

Anna Lo, chief executive of the Chinese Welfare Association, said: "We received a call late on Friday from the police, to say that they seemed to have intelligence to suspect a Chinese gang from London coming up to Northern Ireland to attempt kidnapping for ransom.

She deserves the dignity and respect by giving her back her identity and we would ask people in the community to help us in doing that Detective Chief Superintendent Derek Williamson

"They asked to alert the communities. Certainly a letter was distributed around the community this week.

"Whether there was any connection with this, nobody knows at this moment."

A PSNI spokeswoman said on Friday there was "nothing specific", at this stage, to link the murder with Triad activity but it "does remain a line of inquiry".

A house at Skegoniell Avenue in the north of the city has been cordoned off for an examination by police officers and forensic scientists involved in the murder inquiry.

Another line of inquiry is that the house may have been used as a brothel.

Detective Chief Superintendent Derek Williamson said the local Chinese community was doing all it could to help identify the woman.

"This is a young girl who is probably in her early 20s and whose life has been taken away from her - snuffed out in the prime of her life," he said.

"She deserves the dignity and respect by giving her back her identity and we would ask people in the community to help us in doing that."

A post mortem examination is being carried out to establish how the woman died.

The Antrim Road checkpoint was set up after police received a tip-off of suspicious activity in the Skegoneill Avenue area just after 0130 BST.