A former delivery company worker has been cleared of conspiring to supply money and firearms to a terror group allegedly linked with al-Qaeda. A court heard claims Palvinder Singh, 30, helped to ship goods to Pakistan and handled huge sums of money.Mr Singh, of Coventry, told Snaresbrook Crown Court he had let friend Mohammed Ajmal Khan use his bank accounts. Khan, 30, also of Coventry, admitted his role in supplying Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Mr Singh, who was also alleged to have visited a body armour factory in Canada, said he was in the dock because he had let Khan use both his bank accounts as well as his debit and credit cards as a favour. He told the jury he had not known what the money was being used for. "I have no idea where it came from but it had nothing to do with me," he said.
Mr Singh, who said he would "grass on anyone" who supported terrorism, said he had thought the trip to Canada had been a fabric bulk buying trip.
Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, opened the case by saying that Lashkar-e-Toiba was involved in running training camps in Pakistan "for young Muslim men from everywhere in the world". He said that Khan was an important part of the group and that Mr Singh was used as "cover" to hide some of his friend's activities.
Mr Edis said the fact that Mr Singh was a Sikh and not a Muslim meant that he may be viewed with "less suspicion".
Among payments made from Mr Singh's account was for the shipment of material used to make bullet-proof vests to Islamabad, he said. These were among several pointers to "a clear, inescapable, unequivocal evidence of supporting terrorism", he added.
The jury took more just over four hours to acquit Mr Singh of conspiracy.