🔗 Share this article

A group of six individuals from Britain 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 humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.

The individual named Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to twelve years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons 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, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a further year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in £1m in damage in March of the previous year.

The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner mercenary organization, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.

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

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was taken into custody, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

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

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech nation.

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

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

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

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

She determined the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner organization is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.