NATHAN REES

Covert video footage of two of the July 7 bombers and a man accused of helping them walking down a London street with a "committed terrorist" was shown to a court for the first time yesterday.

Bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shezhad Tanweer and alleged conspirator Waheed Ali were briefly captured on film with a man called Ausman and two others strolling past a kebab shop in the east end of the city over a year before the 2005 attacks.

The never-before-seen surveillance footage, showing the six men in Green Street near Upton Park, was recorded by authorities who were monitoring the activities of Ausman and his associates on March 23, 2004.

Later the same evening a discussion between Mr Khan, Ausman and others, whose voices cannot be recognised, about various ways to defraud banks and credit card companies was secretly bugged, a jury was told.

Mr Ali, 24, from Tower Hamlets, east London, is standing trial with two other men, Mohammed Shakil, 31, and Sadeer Saleem, 27, both from Beeston, Leeds, accused of conspiring with Khan, Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain and others unknown to cause explosions between November 17, 2004 and July 8, 2005.

The four suicide bombers murdered 52 people when they set off bombs on the city's transport network in 2005. The defendants deny the charge at Kingston Crown Court.

All three are alleged to have carried out a two-day reconnaissance mission in the city on December 16 and 17, 2004, with bombers Hussain and Lindsay.

They are accused of pinpointing potential targets and the court has heard they visited the Natural History Museum, the London Eye and the London Aquarium.

The court had previously heard that Khan, Tanweer and Mr Ali were viewed on a number of occasions in early 2004 having travelled south from Leeds to visit Ausman.

On March 23, Ausman's Suzuki Jeep and a Corsa driven by Khan were tracked as they travelled in convoy between Crawley, West Sussex, Slough and various parts of London where they were caught on film.

The footage shows Mr Ali wearing a blue baseball cap, Khan with short hair and a beard, Tanweer wearing a Helly Hansen hat, Ausman, his brother and another unidentified man as they walk along chatting.

The court heard all six men visited an Islamic bookshop on the same road a short while later.

The jury was also read a transcript of a conversation which took place over the space of two hours later that evening at Ausman's bedsit in Slough, which had been secretly bugged by authorities.

Khan, Ausman, his brother and three other men, two with regional accents, were said to be present. Khan is heard to talk about going into a bank to apply for a loan and joked about going in "with a balaclava and a shotgun".

He also discusses with an unidentified man about getting cars on credit and selling them on for a profit.

The man tells him: "Go straight for something like a Porsche 967 about 25 or 27 grand we'll get rid of them, we'll get more money for that."

The group also talk about internet and catalogue fraud and the importance of building up a good credit rating.

The group also discuss using a credit card on holiday and then claiming that somebody has "hijacked" the number and has been using it abroad. They also talk about reporting a card stolen after using it or claiming it must have been cloned.

The jury was later told of links between the three accused and the Iqra bookshop in Leeds.

The court heard that Mr Ali and Mr Saleem were registered as trustees with the Charity Commission in August 2002 along with a man called Khalid Khaliq, Khan and two others.

Paul Taylor, prosecuting, said that the fingerprints of all three defendants were found on a document which glorified martyrdom recovered from Khaliq's home when it when was searched by police following July 7. Further fingerprints of Mr Ali and Mr Shakil were also found on a book called Zard-E-Mujahid.

The trial continues.