Three men were arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the killings of two Chinese graduates, police said.
Xi Zhou and her boyfriend, Zhen Xing Yang, both 25, were found hacked to death in their ground-floor flat in Croydon Road, Newcastle, in August.
The men were arrested during Northumbria Police raids and a further 14 people were held on suspicion of burglary and immigration offences.
Northumbria Police said all those arrested are Chinese nationals.
Of those arrested on suspicion of murder, two men, aged 30 and 22, were held after a raid at an address in Castle Close, Morpeth, Northumberland.
A third man, aged 33, was arrested in Dilston Road, Newcastle, which adjoins Croydon Road.
Five men, aged 26, 42, 35 and two aged 31, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and two women aged 38 and 28 were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences at that address.
A further four men, aged 27, 30, 25 and 29, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary in Stanton Street, Newcastle, as well as a woman, aged 31, held on suspicion of immigration offences.
Another woman was arrested in Castle Close on suspicion of assisting an offender.
At an address in Houghton, County Durham, a 49-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. The three arrested on suspicion of murder are in custody at Byker police station; all the others were taken to Etal Lane.
