Cairo - Egyptian police have arrested a retired police officer in connection with the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim who was found dead in her apartment in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 28, police said Monday.

The suspect worked as a security official for an Egyptian real estate firm owned by a prominent local businessman, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The suspect was arrested on a restaurant boat on the Nile river.

Police said Tamim's killer had fled Dubai 90 minutes after the stabbing in her apartment. What seemed to be the perfect crime, had one flaw, however, acting chief of police, Khamis al-Mazeina told a press conference.

Clothes that had been discarded in the trash at Tamim's apartment building, al-Mazeina said, had led police to the suspect.

While authorities on Monday said the investigation was still ongoing, media reports were rife with speculation over what has been described as a contract killing.

The Saudi newspaper al-Watan, which named the suspect and his employer, reported that the man had confessed to the murder, saying his employer had paid him to kill the popular singer. (dpa)