Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian government.
Dylan Earl was given a 17-year jail term with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve years in jail with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a further year on supervised release by the court.
Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment with an extra year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding details regarding acts of terrorism relating to another plot in Mayfair.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in £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 group, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment 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 took over the probe.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.
Detectives discovered that the defendant Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, police located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a market value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.
