🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based warehouse that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Court Rulings and Involvement

Sentencing the men, the judge at the central criminal court stated that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian state.

The individual named Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given twelve years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted made them the initial persons to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and given a additional year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being found guilty of withholding details regarding terrorist acts connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

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

The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack 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, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had recordings of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also deliberated.

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

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.

In a search of his home, law enforcement found a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency 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 driven by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This case is about 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” irrespective of if the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.