A generic file image shows a blue plastic water storage drum on a construction site. GETTY/ISTOCKPHOTO

A 71-year-old American man has been arrested after the body of his Filipina girlfriend was found in a water drum at the couple's home near the Philippine capital, police said Wednesday. Police in Bacoor city told AFP they arrested the man on Tuesday after discovering the 48-year-old woman's body inside a blue plastic drum sealed in a garbage bag and duct tape at the house just outside Manila.

Officers visited the address hours after the woman's adult son reported she had been missing for four days. Her son also told authorities he smelled a "foul odor" there, a police report said.

Police also recovered three knives and a length of rope, and the man was taken into custody on suspicion of murder, it said.

"We are aware of this case. Due to U.S. Privacy Act considerations, we cannot provide any further information," a U.S. embassy spokesman in Manila told AFP.

Police said an autopsy would be performed to determine the cause of the woman's death.

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