KARACHI, April 13: Family members of the six suspects who were arrested by police on Monday disputed on Tuesday the police claim about the place of the suspects' arrest, and maintained that the detained people were not affiliated with any party or group.

Police on Monday claimed to have arrested six activists of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami in Manzoor Colony and seized weapons from their possession. However, speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, family members of the arrested people contested the police claim and said all the six were football players and were not affiliated with the banned organization or any other group.

An spokesman for the Sindh police had claimed on Monday that the police raided house No.16, Sector 'G', in Manzoor Colony, and arrested Abdul Ghani, Adeel, Irfan, Mohammad As'haab alias Kashif, Abdul Rauf alias Brohi and Khalil Ahmed alias Ilyas Asim. The police also claimed to have recovered five TT pistols, one mouzer gun, four grenades, four timers, four fuses and 32 bullets from their possession.

The Balochi-speaking family members denied all allegations levelled by the police and said the six people were picked up from their houses in Saifi Lane, Baghdadi, Lyari. The raid was conducted in the small hours on April 1.

Speaking on the occasion, Adeel's mother said a police party came to her house at around 3am and when she opened the door, police officials, some in civvies, barged into her house.

They ransacked the house and whisked away Adeel who was wearing a Shalwar only. "They did not tell us where they were taking my son," she said in a choked voice.

Abdul Ghani's father, Abdul Ghafoor, had been captain of the national football team and represented Pakistan in 11 international matches. He said Abdul Ghani was also a soccer player and played from a bank.

Sister of Abdul Ghani said all the six were arrested just because they had beard. All of them were arrested on same day on April 1, when scores of police vans raided their houses, ransacked them and abused their families.

She said police did not tell the family members about the detainees whereabouts. "We were going through a trauma and only after approaching different police officers did we come to know that our loved ones had been lodged at the old CIA Centre in Saddar," she said.

Replying to a question that why they made it public so late, the family members said they were assured by police officials that all the six people had been found innocent and would be released soon.

"We were shocked to learn that they were implicated in false cases. The weapons, which were shown as having been recovered from them, were not theirs," Zeeshan, the brother of Kashif, maintained.

The family members said the police had falsely implicated the six accused for keeping weapons and explosives. The also accused the police of severely beating the arrested men, and said now under duress they could do whatever police wanted them to utter.

Six given in custody