Three men guilty of arson attack ordered by Wagner Group on Ukraine-linked warehouse in London

Three men have been found guilty of an arson attack on a London warehouse linked to Ukraine on behalf of the terrorist Wagner Group.

Around £1m of damage was caused by the blaze at an industrial unit in Leyton, east London, that was supplying StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine, a court heard.

The StarLinks are often used by the Ukrainian military in its fight against Russia following the full-scale invasion by President Vladimir Putin’s forces which started in February 2022.

Nii Mensah, 23, Jakeem Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, denied a charge of aggravated arson but were convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey.

Paul English, 61, was cleared of the same charge.

The attack on 20 March last year was orchestrated by 20-year-old Dylan Earl – who was recruited by the Wagner Group – and Jake Reeves, 23, the trial previously heard.

Reeves, of Croydon, pleaded guilty to agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act 2023.

Earl, of Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, pleaded guilty to aggravated arson and preparatory conduct under the National Security Act 2023.

It was alleged they recruited a group of men to carry out the attack as part of a series of planned missions for the terrorist group.

The court was previously told the pair had gone on to plot more arson attacks on a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair and the kidnap of their multi-millionaire owner, who was a Russian dissident.

Warehouse arson attack was livestreamed

The Metropolitan Police said an analysis of Earl’s Telegram messages showed the first person he recruited for the warehouse arson plot was Reeves, who then recruited his friend Mensah to carry out the attack.

In turn, Mensah recruited his friend Rose. Asmena was also recruited to take part.

Mensah, Rose and Asmena met up on the evening of 20 March 2024 and travelled in a red Kia Picanto to the scene of the arson.

Officers found evidence that Mensah filmed the warehouse being set alight and livestreamed it on FaceTime to Earl and Reeves.

The case is the first concerning allegations under the UK’s new counter-espionage laws.

Prosecutor Duncan Penny said Earl was “knowingly acting at the behest of the Wagner Group”, banned as a terrorist organisation, and “knew he was acting against Ukrainian, and for Russian interests”.

It was ‘only by good fortune nobody was seriously injured’

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “This case is a clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’ – in this case British men – to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf.”

He said that “the ringleaders” Earl and Reeves “willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state”.

And he added that it was “only by good fortune nobody was seriously injured or worse”.

Ashton Evans, 20, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to the Mayfair plot but cleared of failing to tell authorities about the warehouse arson.

Dmirjus Paulauskas, 23, was cleared of two similar offences relating to both terrorist plots after the jury deliberated for nearly 22 hours.

The convicted defendants will be sentenced at the Old Bailey at a later date.