Three men working for Wagner terrorist group convicted of arson attack on London warehouse linked to Ukraine
RUSSIAN PLOT Three men working for Wagner terrorist group convicted of arson attack on London warehouse linked to Ukraine
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THREE MEN working for the Wagner Russian terrorist group were yesterday convicted of an arson attack on a warehouse linked to Ukraine.
The trio caused £1 million worth of damage to an industrial unit in Leyton, East London, destroying £100,000 worth of satellite communication equipment destined for Ukraine on March 20 last year.
An Old Bailey jury yesterday convicted gang members Nii Mensah, 23, Jakeem Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life.
Mensah, of Thornton Heath, South London, livestreamed the warehouse blaze to Earl after he and Rose, from Croydon, set fire to the building as Asmena waited in a car.
The case is the first to result in convictions of British criminals acting as proxies for the proscribed Wagner Group.
Drug dealer Dylan Earl, 20, and Gatwick Airport cleaner Jake Reeves, 23, orchestrated the plot on behalf of the Russian Wagner group of mercenaries.
They planned further arson attacks on a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair and the kidnap of the owner, wealthy Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin.
They are the first defendants to be convicted of offences under the National Security Act 2023, designed to thwart attacks in the UK by hostile foreign states.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb adjourned sentencing until a date to be fixed in the autumn.
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