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A group of six individuals from Britain acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based storage unit that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian government.

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

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years in prison. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and received a further year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with an extra year on extended licence after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding acts of terrorism connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.

The court heard that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing 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 identical Ukrainian firm was subjected to an intentional fire 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone uncovered he had videos of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages showed that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair district owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also deliberated.

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

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

In a search of his home, 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 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 social media to recruit disruptors far from the Russian capital.”

She determined the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.