Parviz Khan shipped equipment to terrorists in Pakistan by using the “cynical cover” of providing humanitarian aid to earthquake victims, Leicester Crown Court was told.

Four shipments, in total weighing more than a tonne, were sent via Islamabad to the Mirpur region of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir between 2004 and 2006.

Hidden among clothing were items to support the activities of terrorists and guerrillas near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the court was told. More than £12,000 in cash was also transferred by Zahoor Iqbal from Britain to Pakistan, where it was collected by Khan when he visited the country, said Nigel Rumfitt, QC, for the prosecution.

The 17 boxes in Khan’s fourth and final shipment, sent in December 2006, were intercepted by the security services at Birmingham airport. Items were examined and photographed before they were repacked and sent on to Pakistan. Listening bugs in Khan’s Birmingham home recorded the terror cell leader and his alleged co-conspirators as they discussed the merits of various items. Covert surveillance produced photographic evidence of the men as they travelled the city to buy the goods on the terrorists’ shopping list.

‘Items sent as earthquake aid’

Hidden among clothing were goods selected and purchased to support the activities of terrorists, a court was told

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Mr Rumfitt said that Khan’s first shipment of 44 boxes, weighing 809kg, was made in December 2004, almost a year before the devastating earthquake that hit northern Pakistan in October 2005. He used a Birmingham-based freight company to fly the goods from Birmingham to Islamabad, from where they were forwarded to Mirpur. A further shipment containing 13 boxes of “personal items” was sent in October 2005, followed by one of 12 boxes, weighing 287kg, in July 2006. These were said to contain personal effects “going to charity”, including tents, clothing and cooking equipment.

The fourth shipment was supposed to consist of “household items, clothes and medical equipment”.

Among the items sent to Pakistan were night-vision binoculars, range finders, soldering equipment, walkie-talkies, mobile phones, electronic bug detectors and split-finger gloves, which — he had explained to a colleague — were extremely useful for snipers.

In one recorded conversation, Khan talks about shipping hexamine. Mr Rumfitt said that these were “little white cubes like firelighters” that can be bought in camping shops but “can also be used to put into bombs and make explosions”.

Talking to Mr Iqbal, Khan also discusses items that have been purchased and can be used as a fuel accelerator. He tells Mr Iqbal: “They say that the brothers 7/7 . . . that it was used as one of the accelerants.” The jury was told that this was a reference to the suicide bombers who attacked London on July 7, 2005.

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