🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based warehouse that was holding humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian state.

The individual named Dylan Earl received a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to twelve 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 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years in prison. The trio were each found guilty of aggravated arson and given a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years with an extra year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding details regarding acts of terrorism connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian government.

The individuals involved selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire 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 arrested, law enforcement examination of his cellphone uncovered he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

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

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

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

In a search of his home, police found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

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

“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to recruit disruptors far from the Russian capital.”

She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner organization is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.