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Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a located in London storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.

Court Rulings and Involvement

While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian government.

Dylan Earl received a 17-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 an additional year on supervised release. 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 jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years. The trio were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a additional year on extended licence by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being found guilty of withholding details regarding acts of terrorism connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March last year.

The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing the Russian government.

The group selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.

Proof and Additional Schemes

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

Some of the messages showed that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping the dissident 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 found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She found the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.