Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a located in London 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 planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.
Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes 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, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused one million pounds worth of destruction 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 organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved selected the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.
Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement found a flag of Russia, 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 member of numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.
“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 group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.
