The Northern Marianas Police say they hope to make an arrest soon in relation to the latest murder of a Chinese farmer.
59 year-old Li Qian Ding was found bludgeoned outside his house on Saturday.
Public Information Officer Jason Tarkong said they had leads and hoped to have a suspect in custody soon.
He said he could not comment on whether there was a connection with other murders of Chinese farmers that had occurred in the past few years.
But he said the earlier crimes may have been drug-related.
"We believe it's probably Chinese gang-related and a lot of these farmers are used as fronts for drug distribution and particularly the drug is methamphetamine."
Jason Tarkong said it had been difficult to charge anyone for the earlier crimes because the Chinese community involved was very tight-knit.
CNMI police say latest killing is probably drug-related Photo: Supplied