A Dutchman was in custody near the city of Rotterdam last night in connection with the death of a 28-year-old Irishwoman.
The body of Co Tipperary-born Ms Roma Lonergan was discovered buried in a shallow grave on the banks of a recreational lake between the Dutch villages of Heenvliet and Zwartewaal on Monday night.
Her mother Mary alerted police after Ms Lonergan, who worked in a supermarket in a village near Rotterdam, failed to turn up for a family occasion at their home in a nearby town last Wednesday.
Police reportedly discovered bloodstains in Ms Lonergan's apartment in the village of Geervliet. There was no sign of a robbery, and only her mobile phone was missing.
A 30-year-old Dutchman was taken in for questioning but was released without charge.
The man, a process operator in a local chemicals factory, was re-arrested on Monday, police confirmed, and is being held in connection with her murder.
A local garage-owner alerted police about a man who had asked for assistance after his car became bogged down in sand last Friday at the isolated recreational lake close to where Ms Lonergan's body was found.
Police here have refused to give details of the injuries which Ms Lonergan suffered or how she died. They confirmed that she had been murdered.
Ms Lonergan grew up in Cahir, Co Tipperary, and has two sisters, Sophia and Avril. A Dutch woman friend, on holiday in Spain, who was preparing to fly home to the Netherlands to comfort the family, said: "She was a lovely person, so kind and generous. We all loved her dearly and are shattered by her death".
Ms Lonergan had moved with her mother to Holland 15 years ago and worked as a cashier in a supermarket in the village of Zwartewaal, some miles from Rotterdam.
Her uncle, Mr Seanie Lonergan, of Cahir, Co Tipperary, said in a statement yesterday that the family was devastated by her death. "Roma was dearly loved, and the fact that she was taken from us so suddenly makes her loss more difficult to bear," he said.
Mr Lonergan asked on behalf of the family that the media respect their privacy at this time. Her funeral will take place in Holland later this week, according to the family statement.