MINOO, Osaka Prefecture--A man suspected of stabbing a police officer and stealing his loaded revolver was arrested in a mountain area here early June 17 following a tip-off from his father.

Police also recovered the handgun, which originally had five bullets but only four when it was found.

The suspect, identified as Yujiro Iimori, 33, was arrested on suspicion of robbery and attempted murder. He denied the allegations.

Police learned of Iimori's whereabouts around 6:30 a.m. and took him into custody during a search of the area, according to investigative sources.

The Osaka prefectural police had mobilized 5,000 officers for the search.

Iimori is suspected of stabbing Suzunosuke Kose, 26, multiple times at 5:35 a.m. on June 16 outside the Senriyama police box in the Senriyama-Kirigaoka district of Suita, which is adjacent to Minoo.

He fled the scene with the officer's revolver.

Right before the attack, police received a phone call from a man reporting a break-in at a house.

The call was made from a pay phone at Kandai-mae Station of Hankyu Corp.’s Senri Line. The pay phone is located about 800 meters south of the police box.

Kose’s two superiors, who were on the same shift as Kose at the police box, rushed to the scene by motorbike.

Kose was attacked as he came out of the police box to join his colleagues.

Police believe the suspect made the bogus call simply to divert the attention of the other officers.

Kose was found with a knife 15 centimeters long embedded in the left side of his chest. The wound, 11 cm deep, had reached his heart. Kose had six other knife wounds and remains unconscious.

Police had been analyzing surveillance camera footage near the police box to search for the suspect.

As a precaution, local authorities in Suita and neighboring municipalities had urged residents not to venture out unless it was absolutely necessary.

The prefecture will host the Group of 20 summit, which will bring world leaders to Osaka, from June 28 to 29.

Police said Iimori lived in an apartment in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward with his mother. They moved there more than 10 years ago, according to the janitor. Iimori worked at a golf practice range part time.

Police determined that Iimori was the suspect after they were contacted by the man's father. The father, who lives by himself on business, got in touch after footage of the suspect was released.

“He resembles my son,” the father was quoted by police as saying.

The police investigation showed that after attacking Kose, Iimori visited a store to buy clothes and three more shops to buy insect repellant, a recharger for a mobile phone and a battery, according to sources.

Police put Iimori on the nationwide wanted list after 4 a.m. on June 17, and a team of 36 officers began searching the mountainous area in Minoo around 5 a.m.

Police decided to start the search there as surveillance camera footage in Minoo showed him heading in that direction after 8 p.m. the previous evening, the sources said.

Around 6:30 a.m., police spotted a man lying on a wooden bench on a mountain trail. When asked his name by officers, Iimori identified himself. Police arrested him on the spot.

The gun was in a plastic bag beneath the bench.