A Japanese man who confessed to killing and dismembering nine bodies that police found in his apartment has been sent to prosecutors for further investigation.

Police say 27-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi is being questioned by Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday.

He was arrested on Tuesday after officers found nine dismembered bodies - eight of them female and one male - in cold-storage cases, covered with cat litter and hidden in his apartment in Zama, a city southwest of the capital.

Shiraishi confessed to police that he tried to hide the evidence.

Police found the bodies while searching for a 23-year-old woman who had disappeared after exchanging Twitter messages with him.

They are working to identify the victims, with officers saying she might be among them.

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