The pair accused of planting bombs at the B.C. Legislature on Canada Day suspected their collaborator was actually an undercover police officer, but they wanted to go through with their plans for the publicity, their trial heard Wednesday.

A man who appeared to be a sympathetic Muslim businessman had been helping John Nuttall and Amanda Korody prepare pressure cooker bombs at a Delta hotel in June 2013, but hidden camera recordings show the couple expressing doubts after he left the room.

“You know what I was thinking?” asks Nuttall. “If these guys are actually cops, it’s still worth it because of all the money and resources that they’ve wasted on us.”

Added his common-law wife, Korody: “They’re not just gonna do this hush-hush, this is going to be a big media story.”

“Oh, yeah, huge,” Nuttall replied.

“And you know what it will do? At least it might help white Muslims get a little more respect from our darker brothers and sisters,” Korody said.

In another exchange, Nuttall suspects he and his wife are being pushed along by authorities.

“What if we’re being set up? What if the government wants this to happen?” he said.

“No,” said Korody.

“Yes, so they could crack down on the Muslims hard,” he said.

This recording was made June 27, about four days before the pair would allegedly plant bombs on the B.C. Legislature grounds during Canada Day, though the devices had already been disabled by the undercover RCMP operations.

Nuttall can be seen gluing the inside of two pressure cookers and then filling them with nails – an attack the pair have said on video was inspired by the Boston Marathon bombers.

“Those things are going to be spinning like little ninja stars,” Nuttall is heard saying. “The initial blast will kill. But the nails will injure and maim.”

Both have pleaded not guilty to four terrorism charges. In the opening address their lawyer suggested the RCMP officer did more than watch the plot take place; the effect of new resources and a vehicle encouraged and enabled the suspects.

In the video, the officer repeatedly tries to dissuade the pair from going too far and killing people who get in the way, such as hotel cleaners or kidnapping a guard at the BC Legislature.

“We’ll tell ‘em we’ve got him and we’ll release him if you release Omar Khadr,” says Nuttall. “And you know we’re serious because we just blew up your party.”

“Yeah, but if they look for him,” replies the officer.

“And where are we gonna put him?” Korody replies.

The court will next release hidden camera video taken June 28, 2013.