Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was storing humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian government.
The individual named Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in jail with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a further year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding details regarding terrorist acts relating to a separate scheme in Mayfair.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.
The proceedings revealed that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over 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 warehouse fire being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the communications showed that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also deliberated.
Investigators discovered that Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “sending 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 nation.
In a search of his home, law enforcement located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The court heard he was a member of multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”
She found the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.
