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Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian state.

Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year jail term with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding information about acts of terrorism relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.

The proceedings revealed 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 individuals involved targeted the storage facility 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 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the probe.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

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

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.

In a search of his home, law enforcement located 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 proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.