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Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based warehouse that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian government.

The individual named Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the initial persons to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was handed seven years. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a further year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with an extra year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts connected to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, acting on behalf of the Russian government.

The group selected the storage facility 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 the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages showed that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.

Investigators discovered that Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.

In a residence inspection, police found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

She determined the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.