🔗 Share this article

A group of six individuals from Britain acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Court Rulings and Involvement

Sentencing the men, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian government.

Dylan Earl received 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 sentenced to twelve years in jail with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years in prison. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a further year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused 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 coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian government.

The individuals involved targeted the storage facility because it was being used to supply emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an intentional fire 10 days later in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the probe.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had recordings of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop 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 found that Earl was also considering the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

In a search of his home, police located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

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

“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.