The alleged role of a “shadowy” ringleader in the plot to blow up seven airlines travelling between Britain and North America was outlined in court today.

Mohammed Gulzar entered Britain on a flight from South Africa via Mauritius under the name of Altaf Ravat, on July 18, 2006, the prosecution said. He was travelling with Zora Saddique, whom the prosecution said he had married recently — but their union was just a "cover" and she had flown out of the country without him on August 1 on a ticket to Belgium.

When arrested three weeks after arriving at Heathrow, Mr Gulzar had been living in an unfurnished and deserted flat in Barking, East London. When questioned, he had initially identified himself under the false name and said that he had come to Britain as a missionary.

Mr Gulzar is one of eight alleged Islamists on trial in connection with a plot blow up the airlines travelling between Britain and America and Canada using liquid explosives in autumn 2006. However, the prosecution said that — unlike six of the other suspects — Mr Gulzar had not made a suicide video, and did not intend to blow himself up, but was co-ordinating the operation.

“It is the Crown's case that Mr Gulzar was no ordinary foot soldier — rather, he was a senior figure within the plot,” said Peter Wright, prosecuting.

The prosecution alleges that Mr Gulzar held covert meetings with Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, of Walthamstow, East London, and Assad Sarwar, 27, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Several telephone calls were also disclosed to have been made between them after his arrival.

“He led a spartan existence so as not to draw attention to himself in the prelude of what would be a violent and bloody statement of intent," Mr Wright said.

A search of the flat in Barking revealed a large collection of batteries, which appeared to have been sold in Pakistan, along with a camcorder, a palmtop satellite navigation system, and a large amount of jihadi material.

Mr Wright said that a mobile phone had also been discovered under a carpet in the bedroom, containing only two numbers, one belonging to Mr Ali and one to a person labelled simply “B”, in Pakistan.

Once arrested, Mr Gulzar had said that he was a missionary working for an Islamist organisation. The prosecution told the court that this was a cover-up for his real intentions.

“We submit that the pressing reason for his arrival, and his ulterior purpose in remaining and liaising with Ali and Sarwar, was his involvement as a senior figure in this plot to blow up transatlantic aircraft,” Mr Wright said.

“He was not here to strengthen religious resolve for any peaceful protest. Mohammed Gulzar entered Britain as a radical Islamist pursuing a violent agenda.”

The court heard that he had appeared to have returned from South Africa in a hurry, having booked his flight only a day before his journey began, on July 14. “Something caused him to take immediate action and travel to the United Kingdom,” Mr Wright said.

The decision to take the flight directly had coincided with the alleged purchase by the plotters of a bomb factory for £138,000 in cash, the buying and stockpiling of equipment and bomb-making ingredients, and recruitment of personnel, the prosecution claimed.

“The timing of his arrival was highly significant in respect of the proximity of various events that were taking place in the United Kingdom,” Mr Wright said.

The prosecution added that Mr Gulzar had failed to take his scheduled return flight to South Africa on August 1, and had made no attempt to do so.

Also in his evidence today, Mr Wright described the defendant Arafat Waheed Khan as an important link between the Walthamstow and High Wycombe part of the alleged conspiracy, who had travelled to Pakistan between October 2005 and January 2006 at the same time as Mr Ali and Mr Sarwar.

“It is the Crown's case that not only was he one of the intended suicide bombers but that he was also an important conduit between Ali and Sarwar,” he said.

“In other words, between the Walthamstow and High Wycombe ends of this particular conspiracy. That he was liaising between them and also directly involved in the purchase of equipment that was used in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices.

“He was also responsible for appearing in two separate suicide videos.”

The court also heard that Mr Ali, Mr Hussain and Mr Khan were watched by undercover police playing tennis together between visits to their “bomb factory” in Forest Road, Walthamstow, where it was claimed they finalised their plans.

Mr Wright said the matches took place in late July 2006, among visits to the top-floor flat to finish preparing the deadly home-made bombs and to record suicide videos.

The prosecution said that another of the alleged plotters, Waheed Zaman, was found to have literature and CDs containing violent jihadist material at his home in Walthamstow.

In the lead up to the men’s arrest on August 9 and 10, the court heard, a flurry of phonecalls took place involving Mr Ali, Mr Sarwar and Mr Gulzar, with many of the calls being made to their mobiles from payphones using international calling cards, in what the prosecution claims was an attempt to conceal them.

Calls were also made to companies specialising in hydrogen peroxide, the court heard, with the intention of “liaising with each other and overseas” in advance of their attack.

Ending the prosecution’s three-day opening statement, Mr Wright said: “It is the Crown’s case, therefore, that all of those men in the dock had a vital role to perform, from commanding officer, to quartermaster and footsoldier.”

He added that it the alleged terrorists were prepared to “bring terror to the skies in a way that the world was unlikely ever to forget”. Mr Wright concluded that the prosecution was satisfied each of the suspecs was "engaged in this murderous plot."

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, of Walthamstow, East London; Mr Sarwar, 27; Tanvir Hussain, 26, of Leyton, East London; Mohammed Gulzar, 27, of Barking, East London; Ibrahim Savant, 27; Arafat Khan, 26; Waheed Zaman, 23, all of Walthamstow; and Umar Islam, 29, (aka Brian Young) of Plaistow, East London, all deny two charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiring to cause an explosion on an aircraft.

The court was adjourned until 10am tomorrow, when the prosecution will begin calling witnesses to give evidence in the trial.

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