Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Osaka police have detained and are questioning a man they believe to be Tatsuya Ichihashi, the sole suspect in the murder investigation of Lindsay Ann Hawker.

Police received a report of a man suspected of being Ichihashi after 6 p.m. and took him into custody in Suminoe ward, Osaka city, a police official said by phone. The Osaka police are investigating whether the man is Ichihashi, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

Ichihashi has been sought since March 2007, when police found Hawker, a 22-year-old British woman, dead and buried in sand in a bathtub in his apartment in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.

The suspect may have been working on construction sites in Osaka until Oct. 11, the Yomiuri newspaper reported yesterday. A person thought to be Ichihashi was living in a dormitory for 13 months in Ibaraki, northern Osaka, the newspaper said, citing unidentified investigators and the construction company that reportedly paid for the accommodation. Fingerprints found in the dormitory matched Ichihashi’s, the report said.

The man under investigation was recruited by the company in September 2008 in Osaka’s Nishinari area, and saved more than 1 million yen ($11,000) in wages, the report said. The money may have been used to pay for plastic surgery in Nagoya, central Japan, the Yomiuri said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Megumi Yamanaka in Tokyo at myamanaka@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 07:41 EST