🔗 Share this article

A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a located in London storage unit that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian state.

Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve years in jail with an additional year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes made them the initial persons to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, 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, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given 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 sentenced to nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts connected 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 caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, acting on behalf of the Russian government.

The group targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply 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 assumed control of the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.

Detectives discovered that Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.

In a search of his home, police found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of about £34,000.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

The proceedings revealed he was a member of numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels 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 recruit disruptors far from the Russian capital.”

She determined the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.