Japanese police expect to bring charges later this week against one of the two men under suspicion for the murder of Irish student Nicola Furlong.

Two Americans, one unnamed, are still in custody almost three weeks after the Wexford native was found strangled in a Tokyo hotel room.

Dancer James Blackston (23) and an unnamed American musician, aged 19, were arrested when the 21-year-old’s body was found hours after she had attended a Nicki Minaj concert.

Her father Andrew and uncle Denis Corrigan are due to fly back from Japan on Monday.

They travelled to Tokyo last week in a desperate attempt to get answers from police about Nicola’s murder just a month before she was due to return home from her exchange trip.

Police believe Nicola’s drink was spiked. They are holding the two Americans on a charge of indecently assaulting Nicola’s Irish friend who was reported to be comatose in another room when Nicola’s body was discovered.

The Irish Independent website reports that the two men were part of the entourage of Japanese American hip-hop singer AI who played Tokyo the night before rapper Nicki Minaj.

Blackston, from South Central Los Angeles, has denied any involvement with Wexford student Nicola’s murder. He has claimed he did not see her after they arrived at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo.

The report states that under Japanese law the suspects can be held for up to 23 days before being formally charged.

The Furlong family has begun fundraising to attend any trial in relation to Nicola’s death.