❓WHAT HAPPENED: Three men have been found guilty of an arson attack on a warehouse in London, England, in connection with the Ukraine war, causing approximately £1 million (~$1.36m) in damage.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Nii Mensah, Jakeem Rose, and Ugnius Asmena were convicted. Ringleaders Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves admitted to aggravated arson and were linked to Russia’s Wagner Group.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The attack occurred on March 20, 2023, at an industrial unit in Leyton, London.
💬KEY QUOTE: “This case is a clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’ to carry out very serious criminal activity.” – Commander Dominic Murphy
🎯IMPACT: The case marks the first convictions under the National Security Act 2023 for saboteurs acting on behalf of the Wagner Group.
Three men have been convicted of setting fire to a warehouse in London, England, which was linked to Ukraine aid efforts. The arson attack, carried out on March 20, 2023, caused the equivalent of over a million dollars in damages. England’s High Court heard that the attack was orchestrated on behalf of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company (PMC).
Nii Mensah and Jakeem Rose set fire to the building while Ugnius Asmena waited in a car. Dylan Earl planned the attack with assistance from Jake Reeves, who targeted the warehouse due to its role in supplying Starlink equipment and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Both Earl and Reeves admitted to aggravated arson and charges.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the London Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, stated: “The warehouse arson put members of the public at great risk, and it was only by good fortune nobody was seriously injured or worse.” He added that the case demonstrates how foreign entities, such as the Wagner Group, use local proxies to carry out acts of sabotage.
Evidence presented during the trial included phone data, CCTV footage, and videos of the fire. Mensah and Rose were recorded climbing over a wall to approach the warehouse and later fled the scene. Messages between the perpetrators revealed their awareness of the damage caused, with Mensah texting Earl: “Bro lol it’s on the news … we dun damages [sic].”
The court also heard of additional plots by Earl and Reeves to target businesses and individuals critical of the Russian government, including the high-profile Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin. The defendants will be sentenced later this year.
Earlier this year, a Wagner Group mercenary was arrested crossing illegally into the United States from Mexico. He was found with a drone, two passports, and around $4,000.
Russia is suspected of being linked to other possible acts of sabotage in Western countries, including exploding packages on cargo planes.
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