🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms 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 presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.

The individual named Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in jail with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a additional year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism relating to another plot in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.

The proceedings revealed that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.

The group selected the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the communications showed that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.

Detectives found that Earl was also raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.

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

In a search of his home, police found a flag of Russia, 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 member of multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.