Tatsuya Ichihashi, the prime suspect in the murder of 22-year-old English language teacher Lindsay Hawker in 2007, was handed over to prosecutors by the Chiba prefectural police on Thursday.

Ichihashi, 30, has remained silent about the allegations against him over Hawker's death, which include abandoning her body on the balcony of his apartment in Chiba Prefecture in March 2007, and about his life as a fugitive for two and a half years, investigative sources said.

He has not eaten anything since his arrest on Tuesday, and has only consumed green tea since arriving at Gyotoku police station in Chiba from Osaka early Wednesday, they said. He refused the three meals provided for him on Wednesday and breakfast on Thursday, according to the sources.

During a media scrum as the police were preparing to transfer Ichihashi, meanwhile, a 30-year-old director at Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc. was arrested for obstructing the vehicle being used.

The director was quoted as telling the police, "I'm very sorry for causing trouble," while the public relations division of TBS said, "It's true that one of our staff was arrested. It happened during our news gathering activities and we are checking what really happened."

Hawker is believed to have died from suffocation, possibly by being strangled, and there were numerous marks on her face indicating she had been beaten, according to the police.

Ichihashi was captured at Osaka port on Tuesday evening by police officers who were tipped off that a man resembling the photo of Ichihashi on a wanted poster was waiting at a ferry terminal.