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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 holding humanitarian aid intended 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 state.

The individual named Dylan Earl was given a 17-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in jail with one year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes made them the initial persons to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and received a further year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years with an extra year on extended licence after being found guilty of withholding information about acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.

The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.

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

When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack ten days afterward 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 arrested, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

Detectives found that Earl was also considering 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 Republic.

In a search of his home, police found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of about £34,000.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

The court heard he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government 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” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.