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 presiding 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 “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with one year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
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 in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and given a further year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with an extra year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts 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 Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.
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 communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the messages indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.
Detectives discovered that the defendant Earl was also considering the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a residence inspection, police located a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The court heard he was a member of multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using social media to recruit disruptors far from the Russian capital.”
She found the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.
