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A group of six individuals from Britain acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based warehouse that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian state.

Dylan Earl was given a 17-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in jail with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a further year on extended licence by the judge.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years with an extra year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding information about acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.

Incident Specifics

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

The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian government.

The group selected 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, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the probe.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance 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 employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

Detectives found that Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about another potential attack in the Czech nation.

In a residence inspection, police located a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a member of multiple 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 recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist group.