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Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian state.

Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to twelve years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the initial persons to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

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

Details of the Attack

The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March last year.

The court heard that Earl, 21 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 group selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack ten days afterward in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in contact with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.

Detectives found that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

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

In a search of his home, law enforcement located 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 pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She found the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist group.