A UK judge has jailed six men for an arson attack on a London warehouse storing supplies for Ukraine, a plot orchestrated by Russia’s Wagner Group. The case marks the first convictions under the UK’s new National Security Act.
The planner of the attack, Dylan Earl, was sentenced to 23 years after pleading guilty to aggravated arson. He was recruited via the encrypted Telegram app by the paramilitary group, which the UK designates as a terrorist organization. Earl then recruited others, including Jake Reeves, who was sentenced to 13 years for carrying out the fire that caused £1.3 million in damage.
The judge stated that a foreign power had “leveraged the greed” of “unsophisticated” young men, who betrayed their country for money. The group had also plotted to kidnap a Russian dissident in London before police intervened.