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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 igniting a London-based warehouse that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

The individual named Dylan Earl received a 17-year jail term with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a further year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment with an extra year on extended licence after being found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in £1m in damage in March last year.

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

The group targeted the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment 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 assumed control of the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone 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 user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages showed that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.

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

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech nation.

In a residence inspection, law enforcement located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

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

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She determined the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner organization is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.