Officials suspect a Chinese trader was kidnapped after his colleague filed a complaint with police saying he had gone missing from Karachi's Defence Housing Authority, it emerged on Wednesday.

According to his colleague, the missing Chinese national had gone out on Monday night at around 7pm, saying he was supposed to meet his friends for dinner. But after a while, he could not be reached on his phone.

The complainant then contacted the owner of the company that rented the car to the missing man and was able to find the vehicle, abandoned at Khayaban-i-Ittihad, DHA Phase VII, at 12:20am. His phone was also found in the car.

Police officials said no ransom call had been received so far and that a first-information report had been filed at the Gizri police station.

The missing Chinese national had arrived in Pakistan on February 25 for "business purposes". Deputy Inspector General (South) Sharjeel Kharal said the man, whose name has not been revealed, was not working on any CPEC project.

“We are probing the kidnapping incident from different angles,” he added.