🔗 Share this article

Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based storage unit that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian government.

Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in jail with an additional year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment with an extra year on extended licence after being convicted of failing to disclose details regarding acts of terrorism connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian government.

The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an intentional fire ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance 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 taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also deliberated.

Detectives found that the defendant Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

In a search of his home, law enforcement found a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.