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

Court Rulings and Involvement

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

Dylan Earl received a 17-year jail term with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years with an extra year on extended licence after being convicted of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.

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

The individuals involved selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply 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, 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 warehouse fire being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also discussed.

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

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

In a search of his home, 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 proceedings revealed he was a participant in numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

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