A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based warehouse that was holding relief supplies destined 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 state.
The individual named Dylan Earl received a 17-year jail term with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. 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 made them the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was jailed for eight years and 10 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 in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and given a additional year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding details regarding terrorist acts relating to another plot in Mayfair.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.
The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an intentional fire 10 days later in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.
Detectives discovered that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech nation.
In a search of his home, police found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a participant in numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to acquire harmful worldwide sway 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 British authorities as a terrorist organisation.
