Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian state.
Dylan Earl was given a 17-year jail term with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in jail with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a further year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Incident Specifics
The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.
The group targeted the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.
Investigators found that Earl was also raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a residence inspection, police located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a market value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”
She determined the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is banned by the UK government as a terrorist group.
