🔗 Share this article

A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was storing relief supplies intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.

Dylan Earl was given a 17-year jail term with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve 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 a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and given a further year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with an extra year on extended licence after being found guilty of withholding information about acts of terrorism connected to another plot in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel 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 organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian government.

The group selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

In a residence inspection, law enforcement located a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a participant in numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

She determined the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.