Two boys who were allegedly blindfolded and searched at gunpoint at a camp near Ruatoki are expected to give evidence at the trial of the "Urewera four" when it resumes on Monday.

Crown lawyer Ross Burns, during his opening address this week, told the High Court at Auckland the two boys were taken to the alleged camp by defendant Tame Iti in January 2007.

Mr Burns said when they got to the camp they were pulled out of the car, put on the ground and searched at gunpoint.

There were shots fired, but when the boys got to their feet they were assured it was a training exercise.

The two boys have name suppression to protect their safety.

The trial against Iti, Emily Bailey, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara and Urs Signer has reached the end of its first week.

The four accused are charged with illegal possession of firearms and participation in an organised criminal group. They have pleaded not guilty.

The court has so far heard from several Crown witnesses – all current or former policemen who were involved in "Operation 8", the investigation into the alleged camps.

Yesterday a policeman with name suppression testified about finding spent gun cartridges and a balaclava near an area where the camps were believed to have been held.

Another policeman described standing in the bushes just 50m away from volleys of gunfire that he said came from semi-automatic weapons.

The jury in the trial has been reduced to just 11 people, after a female juror had to be discharged on Friday to attend her brother's funeral in the United States.

Mr Burns said in his opening address that the accused and the now-deceased Tuhoe Lambert, a Vietnam War veteran, were the ringleaders, organisers and trainers of a "military-style" series of camps held between late 2006-2007 in the Urewera Range.

Mr Burns alleged the camp's attendees had a wide range of purposes, but said Iti's main goal was to establish self-governance in the Tuhoe region.

Defence lawyers for the four accused told the jury to keep an open mind, as the camps were not what police thought they were.

Signer's lawyer, Christopher Stevenson, implied the camps were not in fact military in nature, but places of learning.

The trial is set down for three months.