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A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the 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 received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 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 from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a additional year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years with an extra year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts connected to another plot in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.

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

The group targeted 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 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.

Proof and Additional Schemes

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

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.

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

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

In a search of his home, police located a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a market 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 legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She found the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.