A Muslim who returned from Pakistan with computer files on weapons, explosives and poisons has admitted he was interested in "jihad and warfare".
Aabid Khan, 23, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, told Blackfriars Crown Court he went to Pakistan in 2006 to sell phones and help earthquake survivors.
Jurors have heard he visited Balakot in Pakistan which hosted a training camp for terrorist group Jaishe-Mohammed.
Mr Khan and three others deny charges of possessing terror-related documents.
'Earthquake help'
Mr Khan told the court he decided to emigrate to Pakistan following his second marriage in 2005, which he did the following year.
He said he and several others hired a taxi to Balakot, which he said was a "staging post" for travelling to areas worst affected by the earthquake.
Mr Khan said: "My purpose for going to that area was to evaluate the situation... to speak to the locals, to see if they needed anything, what kind of help they required.
"I could then ask people in the UK, - friends, relatives and others - to try and help them, whether it's money or whatever else they required."
He said another reason for returning to the UK was to persuade members of his family to join him in Pakistan.
'Holy war'
When Mr Khan's barrister Abbas Lakha QC asked him what his interests were, he replied: "Islamic history, jurisprudence, warfare - contemporary, historical and classical warfare - books on jihad in the past, jihad today."
He said his main interests were computers and religious studies.
The prosecution says the contents of his luggage - which Mr Khan says he did not pack himself - "showed he was dedicated to the pursuit of a violent holy war against anyone, any person or any country which did not believe in his religious faith".
Simon Denison, prosecuting, said the information found on him "amounted to a terrorist encyclopaedia or library that would have enabled him or others to carry out terrorist attacks here or abroad in a variety of ways".
Also in the dock are Sultan Muhammad, 23, from Bradford, Ahmed Sulieman, 30, from Woolwich, south-east London, and Hammaad Munshi, 18, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
They deny 13 counts of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism and making a record of information likely to be useful in terrorism between November 2005 and June 2006.
The trial was adjourned until Wednesday.
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~16~RS~)