🔗 Share this article

A group of six individuals from Britain acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based storage unit that was holding relief supplies intended for Ukraine.

Court Rulings and Involvement

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian state.

The individual named Dylan Earl received a 17-year prison sentence with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a further year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking 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 relating to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The individuals involved selected the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an intentional fire 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.

Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech nation.

In a search of his home, law enforcement located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She determined the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist group.