ISLAMABAD, May 9: The taxi used in the assassination of FIA public prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was found abandoned inside Sabzi Mandi on Thursday.

The police said the 1992 model Mehran (GAL-1171) was found parked inside the vegetable market near its gate No 1.

The recovery was made after the traders spotted the suspicious vehicle and informed the police. The police confirmed that it was the same vehicle in which the criminals had escaped along with their injured accomplice after killing the prosecutor at G-9 sector on May 3.

The alphabets of the registration number were found slightly reshuffled, the police added. However, blood stains were found inside the car.

Earlier, the police had been told by eyewitnesses that the vehicle was an FX and carried the registration number of GLA-1171.

The police scanned the vehicle and collected fingerprints and blood stains and shifted it to the Margalla police station.

In the meantime, the excise and taxation office in Gujranwala was approached to trace the whereabouts of the vehicle owner with the help of its registration, engine and chassis numbers.

The registration number “GAL” is issued from Gujranwala. Earlier, the investigators were trying to trace the vehicle with the registration number ‘GLA’ in Gilgit. But it turned out to be GAL.

It is, however, yet to be established whether the vehicle’s registration, chassis and engine numbers are original.

The vehicle will be examined at the forensic laboratory of the capital police after getting a reply from the ETO Gujranwala.

The traders who spotted the vehicle gave different statements over the presence of the vehicle inside the Mandi.

The police said some of them claimed that it was there since May 8 and others came up with different dates.

However, it was established that the vehicle had been brought to the Mandi two days after the incident.