Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the bodies of two women were reportedly discovered in a freezer by police.
A 34-year-old man was taken into custody on Tuesday, one day after a 50-year-old man was held as detectives attempt to identify the victims found in a flat in Vandome Close, in Canning Town, east London.
Scotland Yard have released no further details about the women and the force said it was trying to trace and speak to their next of kin.
Forensic investigators continued to search the flat on Tuesday, while uniformed officers were outside a house in Monk Drive, around a 10-minute walk away, where neighbours said a middle-aged man was arrested on Monday.
There are fears for Mary-Jane Mustafa, 37, also known as ‘MJ’ who was regularly seen at the house with the man who was arrested before she went missing last May, according to residents.
One local resident, who wanted to be named as “Bud”, said she had heard the man looked “shocked” when he was taken away, adding: “They arrested him, put him in the back of the van and that’s it.
“Everything goes on in there - drugs, women going in and out,” she said.
“That MJ - she used to be knock on my door. She used to go in there and all of a sudden, she disappeared off the earth.
“She looked decent. I last saw her last May before she went missing.
“At about 5 or 6am, about two or three months after she went missing, he was burning something in the back garden.
“I was thinking: ‘Has he done something to her?’ He said: ‘I had a row with her and I chucked her out.’”
The Metropolitan Police would not confirm whether the address is connected with the double murder probe.
The discovery of the bodies left residents in the area shaken, with one resident of the block, who did not want to be named, saying: “I’m astonished, it’s a little community.”
Neighbours said a very tall Asian man known as Ali lived at the address, but had not been seen in the area for a while until recently after several run-ins with police.
Ray Hurford, 63, who has lived in the neighbouring block of flats for more than 20 years, said he last saw him about a month ago.
“It’s a terrible shock, something like that. You can’t really get your head around it. It’s incredible that people carry on like that,” he said.
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he thought the murders could be drug-related.
“I knew the girl MJ. She’s been here since she was little,” he said. “We never expected this at all. We never expected bodies in there.”
Officers were first called to the flat at about 11.45am on Friday following “concerns for the welfare of an occupant”.
A 49-year-old man, who has lived on the street for 18 years and did not want to be named, said he had spoken to police.
“They told me that a body had been found, they showed me a photo of a woman, but I didn’t know her,” he said.
“I’ve just heard on the news that it was two bodies. (I’m) just wondering why?”