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A group of six individuals from Britain acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the central criminal court remarked that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state.

Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with one year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years. The trio were each found guilty of aggravated arson and given a further year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being found guilty 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 warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian government.

The group selected the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.

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

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

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

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The proceedings revealed he was a member of numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.