Tokyo, Oct 31 (IANS): Japanese police have found nine bodies, including two with severed heads, in cold storage containers at a flat here while investigating the disappearance of a woman, the media reported on Tuesday.

A 27-year-old man, Takahiro Shiraishi, who lives in the apartment in Zama, south of Tokyo, was arrested on suspicion of disposing of the bodies, broadcaster NHK reported.

The police found the two bodies minus the heads inside a cool box at the entrance of the apartment. The bodies of eight females and one male, in varying stages of decomposition, were found in large cool boxes in the apartment, Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Shiraishi told police he had killed the nine and hidden their bodies. "I killed them and did some work on the bodies in order to hide the evidence."

A next door neighbour of the suspect said he had started smelling strange odours from the flat after Shiraishi moved in in August, NHK reported.

Police made the grisly discovery while looking for a 23-year-old woman who had been missing since October 21. Investigators found that Shiraishi had been in contact with her after she wrote online that she wanted to commit suicide.