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Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms 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 Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian state.

Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year prison sentence with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given twelve years in prison with one year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, 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 hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism connected to another plot in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March last year.

The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian government.

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

When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an intentional fire 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the probe.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also discussed.

Detectives found that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

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

In a search of his home, law enforcement located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven 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 determined the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.