Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based warehouse that was holding relief supplies intended for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
While delivering the sentences, the judge at the central criminal court remarked that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.
Dylan Earl was given 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 jail with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.
Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and given a additional year on extended licence by the court.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years with an extra year on extended licence after being convicted of withholding information about acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.
Incident Specifics
The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March last year.
The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 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 selected the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the probe.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages indicated 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.
Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a member of numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”
She determined the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.
