A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London storage unit that was holding relief supplies intended for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
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 extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in jail with an additional year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was handed seven years in prison. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and received a additional year on extended licence by the court.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to another plot in Mayfair.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The proceedings revealed 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 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 arson attack 10 days later in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in contact with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also discussed.
Detectives found that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping 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 search of his home, police found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.
