KARACHI: Police investigators claimed on Friday to have spotted an ‘organised network’ of Al Qaeda in Karachi with multiple wings whose members ranged from highly educated individuals to IT professionals and technologists who worked on ‘bright students as potential members’.

The disclosure, which added to the worries of the people of Karachi reeling from the recent surge in incidents of terrorism across the city, was made following arrest of three young Al Qaeda suspects. Their interrogation led police to conclude that educational institutions had become a prime target of the globally-declared terrorist organisation for recruiting young graduates.

“The suspects — Junaid Alam alias Asad, Arman Naveed alias Shoaib Khan and Hassan Shuja alias Amir — were arrested from different areas of Karachi,” Raja Umer Khattab, who heads the counter-terrorism unit of Sindh police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID), said at a press conference.

“During initial investigation we have got some crucial leads which suggest that Al Qaeda is active in Karachi in a highly organised manner and is setting up different cells for different tasks. They are targeting young university and college students mainly living in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Shah Faisal Colony and Gulberg as their potential members.”

They were contacted, he said, in a manner that they remained unaware of the group they were joining. They were later assigned the tasks according to their expertise.

To substantiate his claim, Mr Khattab referred to circulation of ‘Al Qaeda literature and CDs’ in the University of Karachi under the name of an unfamiliar group, ‘Ashaab’, some time back. He also disclosed names of a number of suspects, including a ‘sports teacher’ of a private university who heads the ‘technical wing’ of Al Qaeda.

“No student or teacher of the University of Karachi has been found involved so far,” Mr Khattab said, adding: “The group targets young graduates as its potential workers and the recent arrests led to the recovery of a number of arms and explosives and devices used for making bombs.”

He said: “They have also set up a laboratory in a house in Gulshan-i-Iqbal which has been busted. They targeted people of Bohra community, political workers and policemen over the past few years. They are so smart that they avoid using cellphones for communication and mostly rely on internet for messaging.”