Trio guilty of London arson attack linked to Russian mercenary group Wagner

Australia Broadcast Center

4 days ago

Three men have been found guilty of an arson attack on a London warehouse carried out on behalf of the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, Jakeem Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, were convicted of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life, by a jury at London's Old Bailey, on Tuesday.
The court heard the attack on March 20, 2024, targeted businesses linked to Ukraine, and was planned by agents of Wagner Group, acting on behalf of Russian military intelligence.
The warehouse targeted by the trio stored aid and Starlink satellite devices vital for Ukraine's defence against Russia's continuing invasion.
CCTV shown to the court showed Rose and Mensah near the warehouse shortly before setting fire to it.
The fire caused around 1 million pounds ($2 million) worth of damage.
A fourth man, Paul English, 61, was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors said the attack was orchestrated by Dylan Earl, 21, and Jake Reeves, 23, who had previously pleaded guilty to aggravated arson on behalf of the Wagner Group.
Earl also became the first person convicted under the National Security Act when he admitted his role in a plot targeting a wine shop and restaurant in London's upmarket Mayfair district, with plans to kidnap the owner, a high-profile critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Earl exchanged hundreds of messages with an apparent Wagner handler who encouraged him to find links with soccer hooligans, Irish republican militants and high-profile criminal groups.
The arson attack was the latest incident involving allegations of malign activity by Moscow in Britain.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the London police's Counter Terrorism Command, said both plots involving Earl showed "the Russian state projecting activity into the United Kingdom".
He said Russia and other states such as Iran had adapted to British authorities' response to hostile activity, with some 20 per cent of counterterrorism police's work coming from foreign states.
"We've made the UK a hostile operating environment for those governments but, as a result, they've diversified and are now contacting relatively young people to act on their behalf as proxies in doing their activity," Cmdr Murphy said.
The Kremlin has denied the accusations, and its embassy in London has rejected any part in the warehouse fire, saying the British government repeatedly blames Russia for anything "bad" that happens in Britain.
In March, a group of Bulgarians were convicted of being directed by Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek to spy for Russian intelligence.
British authorities say that, since the expulsion of Russian spies following the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, Moscow has had to rely mainly on criminals motivated by financial gain, or those with existing grievances, to carry out activities on its behalf.
AP/Reuters