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Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.

Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year jail term with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in jail with an additional year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes made them the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years 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, a 20-year-old drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years with an extra year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts connected to another plot in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

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 Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.

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

When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack ten days afterward in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the communications indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also discussed.

Detectives discovered that the defendant Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

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

In a residence inspection, law enforcement found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to recruit disruptors far from the Russian capital.”

She found the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.