A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based warehouse that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.
Dylan Earl received a 17-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a further year on extended licence by the court.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years with an extra year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding information about acts of terrorism connected to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous 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, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone uncovered he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, 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 damage buildings was also discussed.
Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also considering 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 Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner organization is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist group.
