TOKYO (AFP) - Seven people who allegedly dissolved the body of a gigolo club owner using chemicals found in drain cleaner have been arrested by Japanese police, officials and media reports said on Friday.

The dragnet comes almost three years after Mr Masamichi Tsuchida, then 43, mysteriously disappeared from his Tokyo "host club", where female guests pay large sums to be entertained by well-dressed men.

Among those arrested were the club's 31-year-old co-owner and a 26-year-old former employee, as well as their ex-wives and two relatives, according to police and a report in the Nikkan Sports tabloid.

The gruesome body disposal - a method favoured by chemistry teacher-turned-meth-producer Walter White in the US TV series Breaking Bad - was uncovered after police found a dental implant linked to the missing man in a sewage tank.

Another tabloid, the Sports Hochi, said some of the suspects had purchased large amounts of sodium hydroxide, used in drain cleaner and industrial detergent, immediately after the victim vanished in November 2010.

Police believe the body was dissolved in the bathroom of one suspect's house, the Nikkan report said.