A group of six individuals from Britain acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based warehouse that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state.
The individual named Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in prison with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.
Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years in prison. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a further year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in £1m in damage 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 warehouse because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the investigation.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was arrested, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in contact with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to harm structures was also deliberated.
Investigators found that Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
In a residence inspection, law enforcement found a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a market value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”
She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.
