A man accused of a terror plot in the UK has admitted he lied about being thrown out of Australia to appear like "one of the lads" in an online chat groups with other Muslims.
The court was told Haseeb Hamayoon wrote in a message group about his time in Australia, saying: "Was there until ASIO kicked me out those basterds (sic)."
However, the 28-year-old told the jury on Tuesday that that was a lie.
He said the security service approached him while he attended a mosque in Australia, but played no part in his later failure to get leave to remain in the country.
The 28-year-old admitted buying a vest with an "Islamic State-style" logo, but told the jury at Woolwich Crown Court he wore it only once while living in London.
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He said buying it was "not clever at all" and had only done as a way of "showing off" to the group.
"I got sucked into it. I joined in to be one of the lads," he told the court on Tuesday.
"There was a sort of exaggeration of the sort you might get among young men, not to be taken at face value. It's like the talk you might get at a bar, you are not meant to take it literally."
Hamayoon is standing trial with cousins Nadir Syed, 22, and Yousaf Syed, 20, accused of plotting to carry out a terror attack using a Rambo-style knife.
Jurors have previously heard the three men spent six weeks last year plotting to carry out a terror atrocity on the streets of Britain.
It is alleged they were acting on a "truly chilling" fatwa issued by IS last September calling on Muslims to arm themselves and smash, slaughter and run over "disbelieving" Westerners.
All three deny preparing for an act of terrorism.
