🔗 Share this article

A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Court Rulings and Involvement

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey 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 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 one year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the initial persons to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a additional year on extended licence by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of failing to disclose details regarding acts of terrorism relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Incident Specifics

The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in £1m in damage in March last year.

The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences 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 humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the probe.

Evidence and Further Plans

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

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair district owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.

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

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech nation.

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

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 legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.