Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based warehouse that was storing relief supplies intended for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.
Dylan Earl received a seventeen-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 twelve years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years in prison. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a further year on extended licence by the court.
Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of withholding details regarding acts of terrorism connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March last year.
The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian government.
The group selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an arson attack ten days afterward in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the probe.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being started and was in contact with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an account with the usernames ‘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 belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also discussed.
Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement found a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The court heard he was a participant in multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda 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 vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.
