By Frances Harrison BBC News

	Shanthan is the alleged LTTE leader in London

The fourth suspect has not applied for bail.

The four accused watched the proceedings on a video link from the jail.

Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar, known as Shanthan, has already been charged with organising meetings to promote the Tamil Tigers who are proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK.

Head of LTTE in UK

Jegatheswaran Muraleetharan, also known as Muralee Tharan, 46, Jeyatheswaran Vythyatharan, also known as Vithy Tharan, 39, Murugesu Jegatheeswaran, also known as M Jegan, 33 and Shanthan are charged with conspiring to receive equipment for terrorist purposes between January 2003 and December 2006.

The prosecution described Shanthan as the head of the Tamil Tigers in Britain - calling him a very valuable resource for the provision of terrorist equipment for weaponry and bomb making.

	Police say the suspects conspiresd to procure equipment for LTTE

Shanthan was granted bail with a large financial security and on condition that he contacts the police by phone daily through voice recognition equipment.

The prosecution handed the Judge a chart of all the different equipment the accused are alleged to have purchased over several years.

It included shock proof lap tops, remote control devices, machetes, high powered magnets that the prosecution said could be used to attach mines to ships, and one hundred thousand pounds worth of printed circuit boards.

'Development projects'

One of the defence lawyers argued that the equipment could have had innocent uses and was purchased for development projects during the cease fire agreement in Sri Lanka.

The prosecution said two of the accused conspired to use the technology company they worked for in Wales as a front for buying equipment.

	The suspects are accused of supporting LTTE in Sri Lanka

It is alleged the men used the firm's headed note paper and its fax machine to place orders but added another phone number for suppliers to contact them on.

The allegation is that Shanthan provided the money for the purchases and some of the orders were delivered to the office of the British Tamil Association which a prosecution lawyer said was a Tamil Tiger front organisation headed by Shanthan.

Details were also read out in court of a meeting between Shanthann and the British police in July 2004 in which the prosecution said he'd been asked why he appeared to have been very busy shopping.

Trial adjourned

The prosecution said Shanthan had told Special Branch that a bulk purchase of boot and handcuffs he'd made was for the Tamil Tiger's police force in northern Sri Lanka and had mostly been taken there by Tamils travelling to the area.

For their part defence lawyers complained they had not received answers to questions they'd posed about what they called "the influence, complicity and collusion" of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London in the case.

The prosecution said all questions that could be answered had been addressed but some were unreasonable and unrealistic.

A trial date has not yet been set but the prosecution asked for it to be set for January next year; the defence argued it should be sooner.