🔗 Share this article

Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.

Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given twelve years in jail with one year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes made them the initial persons to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was handed seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding information about terrorist acts connected to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.

Incident Specifics

The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk 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, representing the Russian government.

The individuals involved selected the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing 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 took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.

Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also considering 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 located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

The court heard he was a participant in numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.

“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 found the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.