3 Men Found Guilty in Wagner-Linked Arson Attack on London Warehouse Storing Starlink for Ukraine
Three men were found guilty on Tuesday in connection with an arson attack on an east London warehouse that stored aid and Starlink satellite equipment bound for Ukraine.
Nii Mensah, 23, Jakeem Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, were found guilty of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life following a trial at the Old Bailey. Paul English, 61 was cleared of the same charges.
The fire, set just before midnight on March 20, 2024, caused £1 million ($1.28 million) in damage and took eight fire crews and 60 firefighters to contain.
The attack was reportedly orchestrated by Dylan Earl, 20, and Jake Reeves, 23, who had previously admitted to carrying out the arson on behalf of the Wagner Group.
In March of 2024, Earl had contacted a Wagner-linked Telegram account, “Privet Bot,” and expressed interest in joining Russia’s war effort but was instead instructed to target pro-Ukraine assets in the U.K.
Just five days after contacting the Wagner Group, Earl coordinated an arson attack by a group of men on a warehouse in east London, targeting the site because it supplied equipment to Ukraine.
Court documents revealed that Mensah and Rose poured petrol and set the building on fire while livestreaming the act to Earl while Asmena waited nearby in a getaway car.
Prosecutor Duncan Penny said Earl was “knowingly acting at the behest of the Wagner Group,” which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.K., and “knew he was acting against Ukrainian, and for Russian interests.”
“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,” said Dominic Murphy, head of the U.K.’s Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command. “I hope these convictions send a strong warning of the very serious consequences of committing offences on behalf of a foreign country.”
