Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London storage unit that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
Sentencing the men, the judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian government.
Dylan Earl was given a 17-year jail term 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 made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a additional year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding details regarding terrorist acts relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.
The group selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.
Detectives found that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, police 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 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 online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the fire incident 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 group.
