A SUSPECTED cannibal has been arrested after he flew across Europe with "suspicious meat" in his suitcase that is believed to be his victim's remains.
Begolea Mendes Fernandes, 25, was detained at Lisbon Airport in Portugal's capital after stepping off the plane on Monday.
He had flown in from Amsterdam on a stopover as he tried to travel to Belo Horizonte in his homeland of Brazil.
The suspect had departed the Netherlands just hours after Alan Lopes, 21, was found dead in his family home.
Police found Fernandes wearing blood-stained clothes and travelling with a horde of suspicious meat packed inside his luggage.
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The contents of the suitcase - which detectives fear could be human - are now being analysed at a specialist lab.
The alleged cannibal was initially suspected of travelling with falsified documents after border control officers questioned his Italian ID card.
Cops then discovered Fernandes was wanted in connection with the Amsterdam killing that took place the day before.
Investigators believe Fernandes murdered Lopes on Sunday evening in the home he shared with his mother and two sisters.
They are currently looking into the relationship between the pair, who are both of Brazilian origin.
Lopes was said to be a popular and talented local artist who offered Fernandes a place to stay, according to reports.
Dutch police confirmed Lopes was the victim of a "serious violent crime".
He was found dead at the property after worried friends raised the alarm when they couldn't contact him.
Residents reported hearing an argument earlier in the evening, before police discovered his lifeless body at 9.20pm.
Fernandes was then arrested at Lisbon Airport in collaboration with Dutch authorities and is now in police custody at the Santa Maria Hospital due to an injury to his right hand.
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He is expected to face extradition to Holland.
Portuguese press reported that investigators suspect the alleged killer committed cannibalism.
A spokesman for the Portuguese Borders and Immigration Service said: "A 26-year-old man suspected of murder in the Netherlands was arrested at Lisbon Airport on Monday.
"He was wearing clothes with blood on them and had a package containing pieces of meat.
"He was held at the airport’s border control after the authorities became suspicious about the legality of the Italian ID card he presented.
"He was initially detained over suspicions he was travelling on falsified documents before it was subsequently discovered he was suspected of committing a homicide in the Netherlands the day before."
A spokesman for Dutch police said: "On Monday afternoon a 25-year-old man was arrested at the airport in Lisbon in collaboration with the Portuguese authorities and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
"The man is suspected of having been involved in the death of a 21-year-old man who was found in a home on Vegasstraat in North Amsterdam on the evening of Sunday February 26."
