Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was holding relief supplies intended for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian government.
Dylan Earl received a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.
Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to another plot in Mayfair.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.
The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.
The group selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the identical Ukrainian firm was subjected to an intentional fire 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was taken into custody, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone uncovered he had videos of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the communications indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also discussed.
Detectives found that Earl was also considering the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The court heard he was a member of numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”
She determined the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.
