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Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based warehouse that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Court Rulings and Involvement

Sentencing the men, the judge at the central criminal court remarked that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian government.

Dylan Earl received a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with one year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and given a further year on extended licence by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding information about acts of terrorism connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The arson attack 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 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 government.

The group selected the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire 10 days later in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was taken into custody, law enforcement examination of his cellphone revealed he had recordings of the warehouse fire being started and was in contact with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also discussed.

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

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed 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 street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

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 gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

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