Police arrested three men today on suspicion of the brutal double murder of a young Chinese couple in Newcastle.

In a series of co-ordinated raids on addresses in the North East officers arrested 17 Chinese nationals following their investigation into the murder of Xi Zhou and her boyfriend Zhen Xing Yang, both 25, who died in a frenzied and sustained attack in their home on Croydon Road in August.

Three men aged 33, 30 and 22 have been arrested for the murder. One woman and another man have been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender while 12 others were arrested for conspiracy to commit burglary or immigration offences.

It has been reported that Yang, also known as Kevin, was involved with an international betting scam or a gang of burglars but detectives have insisted throughout the investigation that were keeping an open mind as to what motivated the attacks.

His girlfriend Xi worked in a Japanese noodle restaurant in the centre of Newcastle.

Their bodies were found along with their murdered pet cat in the ground floor flat on the afternoon of Saturday August 9. A post-mortem suggested that Yang may have been tortured for an hour before he was killed.

Detective Superintendent Steve Wade, leading the investigation, said today: "As a result of ongoing investigations officers from Northumbria Police Major Incident Team together with specialist search officers and scenes of crime officers executed search warrants at addresses in Northumbria and Durham.

"As a result a series of arrests have been made in connection with the murder investigation. Searches at the address are currently being carried out and those arrested are being questioned throughout today. It is early stages and we have a lot of work to do but this is a positive development.

"Both families have been informed of these developments."

The arrests followed a series of pre-planned raids across the North East. At an address in Castle Close, Morpeth, two men aged 30 and 22 were arrested on suspicion of murder while a woman was arrested for assisting an offender.

At Dilston Road, Newcastle, a 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. Five more were arrested for conspiracy to commit burglary and two women were arrested for immigration offences.

Also in Newcastle on Stanton Street four men were arrested for conspiracy to commit burglary and a woman was arrested for immigration offences.

At an address in Houghton, County Durham, a 49-year-old man was arrested for assisting an offender.

The three arrested on suspicion of murder are in custody at Byker police station, all others have been taken to Etal Lane.

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