Dubai: A suspected murderer was arrested just five hours after a woman was killed in her Muraqqabat apartment, a police source said.

A report was received that a woman in her forties was murdered in Muraqqabat area, and a team from the Criminal Investigation Department immediately started investigating the case, the Arabic daily Al Bayan reported.

The victim was a European woman clerk, who had been stabbed repeatedly during a violent fight.

The team gathered information about the murder weapon and managed to identify a number of suspects who used to visit the victim, including an Asian man in his twenties. The victim's mobile phone was found in a raid on his residence.

The 27-year-old suspect said the victim had allegedly stolen Dh4,000 from him. He bought a knife which he used in the murder before running away, but loud voices alerted the victim's neighbours who informed the police.