7/7 'helpers set for terror camp'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7842473.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Two men accused of helping the 7 July London bombers plan the attacks were arrested as they set out for a "terror training camp", a jury has been told.

They were held at Manchester Airport in March 2007 as they were about to board a flight to Pakistan, prosecutors said.

Waheed Ali, 25, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, are on trial at Kingston Crown Court with Sadeer Saleem, 28.

The trio, from Leeds, deny conspiring with the bombers to cause explosions between November 2004 and July 2005.

They are said to have visited London on 16 and 17 December 2004 for a reconnaissance of potential targets.

Mr Ali and Mr Shakil also deny a second charge of conspiring to attend a place used for terrorist training.

Jermaine Lindsay, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain left 52 dead and hundreds more injured when they set off bombs on London's transport network on 7 July 2005.

'No holiday'

Prosecutor Neil Flewitt QC told the court Mr Ali and Mr Shakil were being watched by police on the day before their arrests.

He said they bought kit including heavy duty torches, Swiss army knives, and special water containers and had their hair cut short.

Mr Flewitt said: "In view of the equipment purchased by Ali and Shakil and the destinations that they were proposing to visit, you can be confident that they were not going to Pakistan for a holiday.

"They were, we suggest, going there to attend a terrorist training camp.

"They may have been lying low since the hostile reconnaissance of the 16-17 December 2004 and the events of July 7 2005 but their beliefs and intentions had not changed."

The jury has been told Mr Ali had been on earlier trips to Pakistan with 7 July ringleader Khan in 2001 and with Mr Saleem in December 2004, at the same time Khan and Tanweer were also in the country.

'DNA links'

The prosecutor said there were links between the three defendants and two addresses in Leeds identified as the locations for most of the bomb construction and preparation ahead of 7 July.

These included traces of Mr Ali's DNA found on the handle of a small rucksack and on a hat inside it at 18 Alexandra Grove and his fingerprints in a chest of drawers at the second address.

A key for Mr Shakil's Mitsubishi car was alleged to have been found at Alexandra Grove. And Mr Saleem's DNA was said to be on an inhaler and in a blood stain on a pair of martial arts trousers.

Mr Flewett said Mr Saleem was arrested at his home following the arrest of his co-defendants.

The men declined to answer any questions when interviewed by police, the jury was told.

The court has heard the defendants accept they knew the bombers but claimed their friendship was innocent and that they knew nothing of the bomb plot.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday.