Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based warehouse that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian state.
Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in jail with one year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals 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, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of aggravated arson and given a additional year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.
Incident Specifics
The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.
The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.
The group targeted the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was arrested, law enforcement examination of his cellphone revealed he had recordings of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, 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 been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also deliberated.
Detectives found that Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “sending 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, law enforcement found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.
“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 determined the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist group.
