ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: The city police suspect that the four criminals involved in the killing of a police official here on Friday had stayed in a hotel at G-9 on fake identity cards, sources close to the investigation told Dawn on Saturday.

They said one of the culprits caught by the local traders has been identified as Syed Hassan Jan, a native of Parachanr.

He stayed in the hotel with the fake name of Iftikhar Hussain.

During verification, his CNIC was found forged.

Later, he disclosed his real identity to the investigators. The police suspected that his accomplices also possessed fake identity cards.

Arshad Ali Abro, the station house officer Margalla police, said Jan along with his three accomplices had come to Islamabad on Thursday night in a black Toyota Corolla taken on rent from Peshawar on November 12.

Under the law, the hotel management was bound to collect the CNICs of all the guests, their mobile numbers and reason behind their visit to the city, the SHO said.

However, he added, the G-9 hotel, where the four bandits had stayed, collected the CNIC of only one of the four men that too turned out fake.

The SHO claimed that the culprits were generating money for terrorists by committing robberies.

The investigation showed that the culprits had raided a money changer’s office at F-10 Markaz on Friday and snatched foreign and local currency worth Rs1,846,531 at gunpoint.

Later, they came to the hotel and two of them went into their room along with the cash leaving the others in the car outside.

Later, when a police team tried to arrest them after recovering a knife from their car, they shot ASI Mohammad Riaz, who died later in a hospital.

When constable Rizwan Mustafa also opened fire, there was a shoot-out in which he along with three traders — Rizwan Kiani, Mohammad Arshad and Ahmad Yar — received bullet injuries.

In the meantime, police said, the two criminals present inside the hotel also fled.

On Friday night, the police launched a search operation in all guest houses, hotels and inns in the city to check the presence of any suspect.

The police were directed to check the record of hotels to ascertain whether they were following the law and collecting all the required details from the guests.

The police were also directed to collect the details of the guests and get them verified from the police of their native areas.

Meanwhile, the Secretariat police said they nabbed 30 suspects from under-construction buildings, inns and slum areas.