Three men acting on the orders of Russia’s terrorist Wagner Group have been found guilty of an arson attack that resulted in around £1 million of damage to a warehouse.
The ‘proxies’ for Vladimir Putin’s regime set were apparently motivated by the lure of cash when they set two units linked to Ukraine ablaze in east London on March 20 last year.
Nii Mensah, 23, livestreamed on his phone as he and Jakeem Rose, 23, set fire to the industrial unit while fixer Ugnius Asmena, 20, waited in a car, the Old Bailey was told.
Dylan Earl, 20, who had established contact with the notorious private military group, orchestrated the attack along with Gatwick airport cleaner Jake Reeves, 23.
They targeted the warehouse in Leyton because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
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Meeting in a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair, Earl and Reeves went on to plot more attacks and the kidnapping of the establishment’s owner, the wealthy Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin.
They previously admitted aggravated arson on behalf of the Wagner, becoming the first defendants to be convicted of acting as proxies for the formation under the National Security Act 2023.
Earl has also admitted possessing cocaine and thousands of pounds in criminal cash.
Following an Old Bailey trial, Mensah, Rose and Asmena were today found guilty of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life.
Driver Paul English, 61, was cleared of wrongdoing.
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.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: ‘This case is 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.
‘The ringleaders, Earl and Reeves, willingly 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 the severity of Earl and Reeves’s offending was reflected in the charges they faced. The warehouse arson put members of the public at great risk, and it was only by good fortune nobody was seriously injured or worse.
‘Those involved showed little or no regard for the potential impact of their actions on the UK’s wider security.
‘Seemingly motivated by the promise of money, they were prepared to commit criminal acts on behalf of Russia.
‘I hope these convictions send a strong warning of the very serious consequences of committing offences on behalf of a foreign country.’
Both businesses in the damaged units were Ukrainian-owned.
Initially, local Met Officers investigated before it emerged that another warehouse in Madrid linked to one of the companies had been subject to an arson attack. Detectives from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command then took over the investigation.
They gathered ‘overwhelming’ evidence linking the arsonists to the Leyton attack, the court was told.
The trio were tracked by phone data and traffic cameras as Mr English drove them in his Kia Picanto through south London and the scene of the fire, which was covered by CCTV.
More footage captured Rose and Mensah getting out of the vehicle, climbing over a wall and approaching the warehouses.
As they fled the scene, Rose dropped a very large knife with his DNA on it, with Mensah later messaging Reeves to say ‘L9 (Rose’s nickname) left his Rambo at the scene’.
Sixty firefighters from eight crews had to get the blaze under control.
Afterwards, Mensah messaged Earl: ‘Bro there was bare smoke … You saw it on Face Time.’ Later, he added: ‘Bro lol it’s on the news … we dun damagees [sic].’
While the arsonists were motivated by the promise of money, Earl and Reeves had orchestrated it for Russia, Prosecutor Duncan Penny KC said.
Earl had told a Wagner operative he met on Telegram he was keen to carry out a series of ‘missions’, of which the Leyton fire was to be just the first.
Reeves was also prepared to accept money from a foreign intelligence service to target the Russian dissident and his London-based businesses next, the jury was told.
Earl admitted preparing to set fire to the Hide Restaurant and Hedonism Wines in Mayfair, west London, and kidnapping owner Mr Chichvarkin on behalf of the Wagner Group.
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The court was told the two Mayfair businesses targeted by Wagner employed 200 people and were valued at more than £30 million.
Mr Chichvarkin was described as a ‘high-profile Russian dissident and refugee’ who has been vocal in his criticism of Putin and the war in Ukraine.
On April 5 2024, Reeves, from Croydon, south London, sent an unknown contact Mr Chichvarkin’s name and said he would make an ‘amazing target’.
Earl was also in the plot, raising the possibility of ‘exiling him back to Russia to face prison’ according to police.
In chat, Earl’s Wagner contact, named Privet Bot, instructed him to watch the period drama The Americans and use it as a ‘manual’ for his covert mission.
The television series is set during the Cold War and is about two KGB agents posing as Americans in Washington DC to spy on the American government.
In further chat with Privet Bot, wholesale drug dealer Earl appeared to brag that he had criminal connections, saying he could ‘sort’ an introduction to the IRA and Kinahan Irish organised crime group.
He was arrested in a B&Q car park in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and videos of the warehouse fire being started were found on his iPhone.
In a search of his home in Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, police recovered a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of some £34,000.
Evidence on his phone revealed details of a cryptocurrency account holding more than £58,000 and images of bundles of cash estimated to total £175,000.
Following Reeves’s arrest at Croydon East railway station, police uncovered videos on his phone which were taken by Mensah on the night of the arson attack.
Giving evidence, Asmena, of no fixed address, denied being aware of the arson attack or hiring Mr English as the driver, telling jurors he was ‘just there’.
Mensah, of Thornton Heath, and Rose, from Croydon, had admitted arson and Rose also pleaded guilty to possessing a blade. However, both claimed the prosecution had failed to prove the fire had endangered life.
Mr English, of Roehampton, told police upon his arrest that he had been paid £500 by Asmena to drive but knew nothing about the fire.
Evans, from Newport, Gwent, told jurors that he had got in touch with Earl to buy cocaine, which he admitted having.
He claimed not to take what Earl told him seriously and went along with it to get his money back after buying drugs that were not the genuine article.
Aviation engineering student Mr Paulauskus, from Croydon, told jurors he had been doing work experience at an aircraft maintenance hangar, was interested in gaming and was a ‘gun nerd’.
Born in Lithuania, he holds a joint British and Russian passport and believed that the war with Russia was Ukraine’s fault.
He told jurors that he had been friends with Reeves since secondary school but did not believe anything he told him about the plots was real.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said the convicted defendants would be sentenced on a date to be fixed in the autumn.
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