🔗 Share this article

Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian government.

The individual named Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to twelve years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

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 the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner mercenary organization, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The individuals involved targeted 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 arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed 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 usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

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

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

In a residence inspection, police found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a market value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a participant in multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She determined the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist group.