One of eight men accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners was a "shadowy figure" with links to Pakistan who arrived in Britain on a false passport pretending to be a newlywed, a court heard on Monday.

Mohammed Gulzar, 26, was a senior figure in the plot to bring down at least seven planes in mid-flight as they headed from London's Heathrow to Canada and the United States, the jury at Woolwich Crown Court in east London was told.

"Mr Gulzar is ... a far more shadowy figure in this conspiracy," prosecutor Peter Wright told the court.

"Mohammed Gulzar entered the United Kingdom as a radicalised Islamist pursuing a violent agenda."

Gulzar had arrived in Britain from South Africa on July 18, 2006, less than a month before police arrested the men who prosecutors say were not far from carrying out their suicide bombing mission.

He was using a South African passport under the false name, Altaf Ravat, and was with a woman he said was his wife. However she flew out of Britain shortly afterwards and Gulzar never took his return flight.

"The circumstances ... indicate an extremely pressing reason for him to be present in the United Kingdom during this time and that his arrival as a newlywed with his wife was little more than cover for some ulterior reason," Wright said.

When Gulzar was arrested at his home in east London, police found a mobile phone that had only been in contact with a Pakistani number, Wright said.

Police also found a palmtop computer at his house, which contained files "entirely consistent with a radicalised Islamist pursuing a violent agenda", Wright told the jury.

"It had material about the death of Abu Musab Zarqawi, a prominent figure within Al Qaeda," Wright said.

"(The) files (were) about Jihad, speeches by Osama Bin Laden, songs including the words "I am a terrorist and blow them up, blow them up wherever they are and slaughter them."

Wright also said it contained Jihadi or Mujahideen footage with one entitled "Top Twenty Sniper Shots", with footage from Iraq depicting sniper attacks on US military targets.

The eight British citizens on trial at the maximum security court are Abdullah Ahmad Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 27, Tanvir Hussain, 27, Gulzar, Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Khan, 26, Waheed Zaman, 23, and Umar Islam, 29. All are charged with conspiracy to murder. They deny the charges.

They are also accused of plotting "to commit an act of violence likely to endanger the safety of an aircraft".

The men planned to use liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks to blow up the aircraft.

That prompted a massive security response at global airports and a limit on liquids carried on board aircraft, the court heard. The prosecution allege the men were close to putting their scheme into action when they were arrested in August 2006.

The trial continues.