A group of six individuals from Britain 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 humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian state.
Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in jail with one year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes made them the initial persons to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.
Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on extended licence by the court.
Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of withholding information about terrorist acts relating to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.
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 last year.
The proceedings revealed that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian government.
The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the probe.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair owned by 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 raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech nation.
In a residence inspection, police located a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a member of numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.
