A group of six individuals from Britain acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a located in London warehouse that was holding humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated 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 “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve years in jail with one year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for eight years and 10 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. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a further year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March last 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 mercenary organization, acting on behalf of the Russian government.
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 subjected to an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the probe.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.
Detectives found that 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 talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement located a flag of Russia, 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 pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to recruit disruptors 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 group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.
