Dubai: Dubai Police say they have arrested the main suspect in the murder of British woman Maria McClymont.

Deputy Dubai Police Chief Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina said on Wednesday that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in cooperation with the Syrian Interior Ministry and the Interpol in Abu Dhabi and Damascus, had arrested Syrian suspect M.K.Q.

Three others suspected of cooperating with the accused killer were also arrested, police said.

Maj Gen Al Mazeina said Dubai Police managed to determine the relationship between the victim and the first suspect just hours after receiving the first murder report.

They had also within hours identified and arrested the other suspects .

CID director Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri said the department received a report on May 27 that a murder had taken place in an apartment in Mankhoul.

A 50-year-old British woman had been stabbed to death in her apartment.

Police said their investigations revealed the deceased had been a training manager at the Four Points by Sheraton Downtown Dubai hotel.

She had been found by her colleagues who went to check on her after she had failed to come to work for four days.

Police said the CID team found the first suspect, M.K.Q., was in a relationship with the victim and had been the last person to visit her.

He allegedly left the country the day after her murder, but the police said they identified his friends and arrested one of them, their second suspect M.M.A., of Syria.

Police said they found money with the second suspect, who allegedly confessed that the first suspect had given him jewellery to sell, and send the proceeds to him in Syria.

Police said the second suspect said his friend stole the money from his girlfriend. The matter has been referred to the public prosecutor.

Al Mansouri said the main suspect confessed to killing the victim because of disagreements. He had also confessed to stealing her jewellery and passport.