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A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

The individual named Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year jail term with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve years in prison with one year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes made them the first individuals to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and given a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts connected to another plot in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk 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 did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The group targeted the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment 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 assumed control of the probe.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages showed that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also discussed.

Detectives discovered that Earl was also considering the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about 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 approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

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

“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence 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 group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist group.