A group of six individuals from Britain acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing relief supplies intended for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
Sentencing the men, 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 received a 17-year prison sentence with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in jail with an additional year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes made them the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to 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. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a further year on extended licence by the court.
Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.
The group selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an intentional fire ten days afterward in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the probe.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had recordings of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the messages indicated that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks 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 deliberated.
Detectives found that Earl was also considering the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a participant in multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”
She found the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.
