🔗 Share this article

Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms for igniting a located in London storage unit that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the central criminal court remarked that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.

The individual named Dylan Earl received a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given twelve years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted made them the initial persons to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each found guilty 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 with an extra year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding details regarding terrorist acts connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

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

The court heard that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, acting on behalf of the Russian government.

The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the probe.

Evidence and Further Plans

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

Some of the communications showed that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also deliberated.

Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling 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 residence inspection, law enforcement found a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

The proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She found the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.