MURDER accused Mohammed Nisar Khan was arrested by an armed response unit two weeks after allegedly running down his victim on a Bradford street, a jury heard today.

Khan, known as Meggy, was apprehended in Chester Street, Oldham, on October 18 last year.

AS IT HAPPENED

Pc Andrew Benson, an officer with Greater Manchester Police, told Bradford Crown Court that Khan was arrested at 19.40 hours.

His co-accused, Tony Grant, an HGV driver, was arrested at a retail park in Bradford on October 5.

A police officer on duty in plain clothes in an unmarked police vehicle received information on his whereabouts.

Grant was hiding, curled into a ball, under some cardboard behind a bush, the jury was told.

When he was arrested on suspicion of murder and cautioned "he said nothing and slowly nodded his head in acknowledgement."

Grant was holding a red mobile phone along with his car keys, the officer stated.

David Bannister, the director of the haulage firm that employs Grant, said he had never given the firm any problems.

"He is a good worker who always turns in for work on time,” Mr Bannister said.

Prosecutor, Peter Moulson QC, has told the jury that Amriz Iqbal was knocked down and killed in Sandford Road, Bradford Moor, on October 3 last year.

Mr Iqbal, 40, a father of three, of Curzon Road, Bradford Moor, was struck by a silver Kia Sedona shortly after 1pm.

It is alleged that the vehicle was deliberately driven at him and his friend, Adnan Ahmed, by Mohammed Nisar Khan, with Tony Grant in the passenger seat.

Khan, 41, of Holme Lane, Tong, Bradford, and Grant, 39, of Queens Road, Bradford, deny murdering Mr Iqbal and attempting to murder Mr Ahmed.

They also deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, along with Salman Ismail, 31, of Hollin Road, Shipley, Bradford, and Nadeem Khan, 35, of Gledhow Wood Road, Roundhay, Leeds.

Ismail is accused of conspiring to set fire to Whitehall Service Station, in Whitehall Road, Birkenshaw, Bradford, to destroy CCTV. It is the Crown’s case that Mohammed Nisar Khan and Grant were caught on camera refuelling the Kia Sedona before Mr Iqbal was knocked down.

Mr Moulson said there was a flash of light as two disguised males tried to set the kiosk on fire. When that failed, it is alleged that an attempt was made to rob the CCTV from the kiosk.

Today, the court heard evidence from friends who had been drinking in the Golden Fleece public house across the road from the service station.

One said that she had seen two youths, one in a “Halloween style skull mask”, fleeing on a scooter.

Another saw a dark Skoda Octavia leaving the area with its lights off and memorised the registration plate. That car was registered to Salman Ismail, the jury was told.

The trial continues.