🔗 Share this article

A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” 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 supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a additional year on extended licence by the judge.

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 found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to another plot in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March last year.

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

The individuals involved targeted 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 ten days afterward in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, law enforcement examination of his cellphone uncovered he had videos of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the communications showed that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.

Investigators found that Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about another potential attack in the Czech nation.

In a search of his home, police located 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 member of numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence 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 proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist group.