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Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

The individual named Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the initial persons to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a additional year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of withholding details regarding acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian Federation.

The individuals involved targeted the storage facility because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to harm structures was also deliberated.

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

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

In a search of his home, law enforcement located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a market value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a participant in multiple 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 far from the Russian capital.”

She determined the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist group.