🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London storage unit that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian state.

The individual named Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to twelve years in prison with one year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years in prison. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding acts of terrorism relating to another plot in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.

The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.

The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had recordings of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair district owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

Detectives discovered that Earl was also considering the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about another potential attack in the Czech Republic.

In a residence inspection, police found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

The proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist group.