A Chinese national who went missing in Islamabad on Monday was found dead in a stormwater drain near the expressway today, according to Islamabad police.

Li Jinqiang had arrived in the capital on April 13 and went out to buy medicine two days later but never returned, according to a first information report (FIR) filed at Kohsar police station on Thursday on the complaint of a friend of the deceased.

Police had registered a case under Section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the time.

The FIR quotes Li's friend saying that "he had left his mobile phone, passport, and luggage behind in his room, adding that "he did not know the local language".

According to Superintendent of Police Umar Khan, the body has been sent to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) hospital for a postmortem examination. "It will be too premature at this stage to say anything about it being a murder," the SP said.

"The injuries to the head do not point to the use of a knife or bullet. They seem to have been caused by a rock or a stick. But the true facts will only emerge after the postmortem report is released," he added.

SP Khan said that an additional charge of murder will be added to the FIR, if the findings of the report ascertain the fact.

The police officer did say, however, that the investigation has been handed over to the homicide unit.