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A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a further year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts relating 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 caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The group selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the identical Ukrainian firm was subjected to an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was taken into custody, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages indicated that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also deliberated.

Detectives discovered that Earl was also considering the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

In a residence inspection, police found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

The court heard he was a member of numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

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