🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based storage unit that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in jail with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a additional year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose details regarding acts of terrorism relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Incident Specifics

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident 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 identical Ukrainian firm 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.

Evidence and Further Plans

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

Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair district owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also deliberated.

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

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

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

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

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

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