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Wagner Group Activists have been jailed for arson attacks in the past London for warehouse storage support ukraine,
The fire in Leyton on 20 March 2024 was part of a planned “campaign of terrorism and subversion” against the Russian state.
It caused £1 million of damage, endangered lives and required 60 firefighters to extinguish the blaze.
The warehouse was targeted by the terrorist Wagner Group because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and Starlink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
Subsequently, architect Dylan Earl turns his attention to more “missions”, targeting a restaurant and liquor store in Mayfair and the kidnapping of the owner, wealthy Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin.
court Heard that Earl was a member of several pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
On Friday, Earl and five other young men were sentenced at the Old Bailey for what the judge described as a “planned campaign of terrorism and subversion” in the interests of the Russian state.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: “This case is about the Russian Federation’s efforts to gain dangerous global influence by using social media to recruit saboteurs based far from Moscow.”
He said the arson attack was not an isolated incident, as there was another warehouse attack in Spain 10 days later and Earl had discussed another possible attack in the Czech Republic.
The judge found that the arson attack had a “terrorist connection”, regardless of whether the perpetrators were aware of it or not.
Earl, 21, and fellow organizer Jake Reeves, 24, admitted charges against them, making them the first people to be convicted of crimes under the National Security Act 2023.
Drug dealer Earl, of Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, was jailed for 17 years and six years on an extended license for his “leading role” in terrorist activities.
Reeves, of Croydon, south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a year on extended licence.
Jakeem Rose, 23, of Croydon, south London, was jailed for eight years and 10 months, Nii Mensah, 23, of Thornton Heath, south London, was jailed for nine years and homeless Uganius Asmena, 21, was jailed for seven years after being found guilty of aggravated arson following an Old Bailey trial.
They were each handed another year on extended licenses by the judge, who saw the “true value” of what some might see as “easy money”.
His case was the first to convict British criminals acting as proxies for the banned Wagner Group.
Drug dealer Ashton Evans, 20, of Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years and a further year on an extended license after being found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to the Mayfair plot.
The court heard that Earl and Reeves never left their bedrooms because they had carried out arson attacks for the Wagner Group, which was acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.
Earl told an operative of the Wagner Group, whom he had met on telegram, that he was willing to carry out a series of “missions”, of which the fire at Leighton was the first.
In the chat, Earl’s contact, Privet Bot, instructs him to watch the Cold War spy drama The Americans and use it as a “manual” for his covert mission.
Earl was arrested at a B&Q car park in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and videos of the warehouse fire were found on his iPhone.
In a search of his home, police found a Russian flag, over £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of approximately £34,000.
Evidence on his phone revealed details of more than £58,000 in a cryptocurrency account and photographs of bundles of cash estimated at a total of £175,000.
In mitigation for Earl, Paul Hines Casey said that he was “easy meat” for exploitation by the Wagner Group, because he saw the world through the “prism of online gaming”.
Mr Hines said: “This is not a John le Carré novel. But yet people who wish bad for the UK and other countries will continue to try to connect with people like Mr Earl.”
Henry Blaxland KC, for Reeves, said the evidence showed “the extent to which the Russian state and agents of the Russian state have managed to break into Britain by taking advantage of teenagers buried in their computers”.
He said Reeves’ judgment was “impaired” due to his excessive use of the drug ketamine.
The court was told that the men employed by Earl and Reeves to carry out the arson attack in Leyton were “amateurs” motivated by promises of money which they never received.
Following the sentencing, Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “This case is a clear example of an organization linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’ to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf, in this case British men.
“The ringleaders, Earl and Reeves, voluntarily acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state.
“I am pleased that, working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, we were able to use the new National Security Act legislation, which meant that the seriousness of Earl and Reeves’ crime was reflected in the charges they faced.”
Frank Ferguson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This successful prosecution is a significant moment in our national security efforts.
“The National Security Act has given the Crown Prosecution Service and law enforcement agencies the tools to confront emerging threats from hostile states with greater precision and force.”