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Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given twelve years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a additional year on extended licence by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years with an extra year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding information about terrorist acts connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in 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 organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian government.

The group 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 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 taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

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

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

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

In a residence inspection, law enforcement located a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

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

“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation 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” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.