British police arrested a suspect early Saturday in connection with the recent brutal stabbing murders of two French students.

Officers detained a 21-year-old man at about 3:40 a.m. on a street in southeast London near where the murders took place, police said. He was being held at a London police station.

Police would not say whether the arrested man was the prime suspect in the case, and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Laurent Bonomo and his friend Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were bound and stabbed to death at their apartment on Sunday night. Bonomo was stabbed nearly 200 times while Ferez received nearly 50 stab wounds. Their bodies were then set ablaze to destroy evidence.

Both were bioengineering students taking part in a three-month research project at Imperial College in London.

Police said Friday the murders may be linked to the theft of two PlayStation game consoles, which they believe were taken from the apartment during the killing. A laptop computer was also stolen from the apartment six days before the attack.