Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian state.
Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to twelve years in jail with one year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals 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, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of aggravated arson and given a additional year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years with an extra year on extended licence after being found guilty of withholding information about acts of terrorism connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing 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 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 investigation.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone uncovered he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.
Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech nation.
In a search of his home, police located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”
She determined the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist group.
