LAHORE, June 2: A Japanese was found murdered in North Cantonment on Monday night.

Identified through his belongings as Osumo Morinawa, 42, he was found lying dead beside the boundary wall of the Pakistan Rangers headquarters.

Cantonment police SP Dr Usman Anwar told Dawn the man had been strangled and his hands and legs had been tied with pieces of cloth.

“Neither his passport nor any currency was found from his belongings lying beside him,” the SP said and believed that could be a robbery-cum-murder case.

The SP said it was yet to be confirmed whether the Japanese was coming from airport or he was touring the city or he was staying at any hotel.

The body was removed to the city morgue.

Plaza fire: Video and audio compact discs and furniture worth Rs5 million were reduced to ashes when a fire broke out at a plaza on the Hall Road on Monday.

Quoting shopkeepers, police said an air-conditioner compressor exploded at one of the video stores in the plaza that caused the fire. The flames engulfed some adjacent small shops.

Four of those burnt completely and at least 30 other shops were affected in the blaze. Three fire fighting teams reached the spot and extinguished flames in almost two hours.

Traffic and business remained suspended for five hours in the market.