Scrambling out of a crammed Kia Picanto, two hooded men slink through the darkness towards a warehouse with one goal in mind: to burn it to the ground.
After dousing the front of industrial unit with petrol, one of the thugs lobs a lit rag on the building’s fuel-soaked door.
As the pair of firebombers sprint off into the gloom, a sudden flash of flame is caught in grainy CCTV camera footage as a roaring blaze starts to engulf the property.
The inferno that ripped through units 1 and 2 of the Cromwell Industrial Estate in Leyton, east London, caused £1million of damage – and wrote off £100,000 of aid destined for war-torn Ukraine.
However, the culprits weren’t just arsonists. They were instead a deluded gaggle of Britons recruited as guns for hire by Russia’s ruthless Wagner mercenary group.
Wagner is infamous for its heavy involvement in the invasion of Ukraine as well as carrying out military campaigns on behalf of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin in Mali, the Middle East and South America.
The paramilitary cult’s ranks allegedly include convicted murderers, rapists and gangsters – as well as ex-military personnel.
They have a fearsome reputation for carrying out sickening atrocities in warzones, from rape to murder. Last month the group was accused of kidnapping and torturing hundreds of civilians in Mali, which allegedly includes some refugees staying at former UN bases and camps shared with the country’s army.
Arsonist Nii Kojo Mensah and Jakeem Barrington Rose are seen carrying a Jerry can of fuel used to help ignite the fire in Leyton, east London
The attack was caught on CCTV as the gang ran away. A fire can be seen in the background
The group, hired as part of a plot by Russian mercenary group Wagner, later returned to the scene to livestream the blaze for their Russian handlers
And the collective of bloodthirsty goons are equally as merciless to their own – executing ‘traitors’ in some of the most twisted ways possible. One man had his head caved in with a sledgehammer after being caught trying to switch sides in Ukraine.
‘A dog receives a dog’s death,’ Wagner’s old warlord commander-in-chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, drawled when asked about the execution. Prigozhin, a former close ally of Vladimir Putin, was killed less than a year later when his plane crashed after leading a failed revolt against Putin. It’s suspected the Kremlin ordered his execution.
Now the group’s tendrils appear to be spreading into the UK, as part of a drive to lure British youths into betraying their country for cash and notoriety.
Increasingly, Wagner is turning to social media messaging apps such as Telegram to seek out hapless gangsters across Europe to join its ranks – and carrying out proxy missions, thought to be under the orders of military chiefs in the Kremlin or from Putin’s elite spy brigade, the GRU.
Professor Bart Schuurman at the University of Leiden, has chillingly claimed Russian operations, including sabotage, influence, vandalism and assassination attempts, have crept up, from 11 in 2022 to 23 in 2023 and 64 in 2024.
On Tuesday, Nii Kojo Mensah, Jakeem Rose and Ugnius Asmena, were the latest to be found to have been recruited by Wagner. They were convicted of committing aggravated arson on the warehouse.
They had been roped into sabotaging the property – which contained vital satellite kit from billionaire tech guru Elon Musk’s Starlink communications firm destined for Ukraine – by ‘ringleader’ Dylan Earl.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, former head of the Wagner mercenary group, at the ruins of Ukrainian Bakhmut, in May 2023
Dmitry Yakushchenko, 44, had his head taped to bricks with clingfilm before being bludgeoned to death with the sledgehammer in a harrowing ordeal that was filmed and published online. He had been accused of treason and defecting to the Ukrainian side
His murder echoes the execution of convicted murderer Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Wagner mercenary who was also bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer by the group (pictured moments before his death)
Wagner’s former Yevgeny Prigozhin also died in mysterious circumstances when his jet crashed. It came after he led a brief rebellion against Putin, leading military vehicles into Russia before calling off the action
Pictured is the wreckage of the plane Wagner’s former boss died in during is mysterious crash in June 2023
Earl, a bungling part-time drug dealer was recruited into the ruthless cartel of mercenaries after approaching the group over Telegram.
The 20-year-old, who boasted of being ‘the best spy you have ever seen’, was enthralled by the prospect of giving up his life living at home with his parents.
From his bedroom in the tiny village of Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, the Putin fan who could barely speak 30 words of Russian, managed to assemble a motley crew of Britons to torch the London warehouse causing £1million of damage, destroying generators and vital Starlink satellite equipment destined for Ukraine.
The young builder and cocaine dealer was given the codename of ‘SAS’ and billed as Wagner’s ‘dagger in Europe’ after Earl told the terror group of his grand plans to do ‘something big’ for the Kremlin, boasting he could build a ‘link’ between the Wagner Group, IRA and notorious Kinahan crime cartel.
But the hapless arsonists Earl hired, who ranged from criminals to a cleaner, did such a bad job on March 20 last year that the Russians refused to pay them, saying the arson attack was not up to Wagner’s ‘standards’.
His henchmen, Mensah, 23, Rose, 23, and Asmena, 20, failed to properly capture a full video of the burning warehouse after fleeing in a Kia Picanto which had to be ‘bump started’ with a set of pliers to turn the ignition key.
They were forced to return to the scene just to livestream it for the Russians, which resulted in the gang being captured on CCTV and Rose also dropped a knife with his DNA on it before fire crews arrived to bring the blaze under control.
But in a chilling illustration of Russia’s appetite for inflicting chaos in the UK, despite the attack not matching Earl’s lofty promises, Wagner operatives were prepared to send him on an even bigger mission to kidnap billionaire Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin.
Dylan Earl, 20, was the ringleader of the group, a court previously heard
The gang caused £1million of damage to the industrial estate after firebombing it
A lorry driver was seen on CCTV using a fire extinguisher to try and quell the flames
It took dozens of firefighters to extinguish the inferno at the industrial unit
When police swooped last April, Earl was preparing to firebomb his Mayfair restaurant and wine shop worth £30million.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said the astonishing case showed how Russia was prepared to buy criminal proxies to carry out their dirty work in the UK.
Earl was the first person to be convicted under the new National Security Act last year after police uncovered messages revealing how the drug dealer, who kept a Russian flag in his room, contacted a Telegram channel known as a mouthpiece for Wagner.
His second in command, Jake Reeves, also pleaded guilty to agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act 2023.
And on Tuesday, Mensah, Rose, and Asmena were all convicted by a jury for their part in the firebombing. All five men now face prison.
During the court case, jurors heard how Earl had a passion to get involved with the rag-tag group of Russian mercenaries – notorious for their brutal tactics overseas.
‘I [have] been wanting to come Russia. I need a fresh start bro,’ Earl said.
‘Do I need to be able to speak Russian though because that’s not the best? Literally know 30 words, if that.’
A Wagner automated chatbot called ‘Privet’ – or ‘hello’ in Russian – responded: ‘Hello friend. How are you? We would like you to help us in Europe. What can you do in Europe, what actions? We need those who are our kindred spirit.’
Pictured is the aftermath of the blaze that ripped through the warehouse in Leyton
Jake Reeves, of Croydon, pleaded guilty to agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act 2023
Gang members Jakeem Barrington Rose, 23 (left) and Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, were also part of the group. They were convicted on Tuesday
Ugnius Asmena, 20, had denied aggravated arson but was convicted after 21 hours and 55 minutes of jury deliberation. Also convicted was Welsh drug dealer Ashton Evans, 20 (right)
Earl was instructed to watch a Cold War drama about KGB spies as a ‘manual’, using The Americans TV series about KGB agents undercover in the US as an aid to help him organise ‘partisan cells’ in the UK.
Earl, whose online name was John Wick’s nickname, Baba Yaga, from the hit movies starring Keanu Reeves, bragged: ‘If you need connections with IRA, I can sort it.
‘You want criminal connections with murderers, kidnappers, soldiers, drug dealers, fraudsters, car thieves- I can sort it all.’
He promised, ‘I know I can be the best spy you have ever seen’, saying he had ‘hundreds of people who respect me and do everything I ask of them’.
Excitedly, he told the Russians: ‘I can bring you great power and connections…I can get integrated with political connections and criminal figures of the highest level in Europe and South America…I am offering you everything: ways to make tens of millions of pounds, doing any country, all fires etc, spy operations in my country against individuals, business, government… I can provide you with hundreds of soldiers and access to big criminal organisations. Everything you want.’
Earl pleaded guilty to preparing conduct for acts which endangered life on behalf of a foreign power before the four-week trial at London’s Old Bailey began.
During the court hearing, jurors heard how Earl had used the nickname ‘Baba Yaga’ on Telegram – a reference to the nickname for John Wick – a fictional hitman used by Russian and American gangs portrayed by Hollywood A-lister Keanu Reeves.
Earl had started to follow a group on the encrypted messaging app, Telegram, called ‘Grey Zone’ – a pro-Russian account used by Wagner to recruit new henchmen.
It has some 500,000 members and regularly shares Kremlin propaganda and job opportunities for wannabe mercenaries.
Pictured are screen grabs of the conversation the defendants had about the plot
The app, popular across Russian-speaking countries and former Soviet Union states, has been critical to Wagner’s efforts to launch a shadow war of sabotage across the continent.
It’s been linked to helping organise attacks across Europe. During three days in July 2024, packages – all sent from Lithuania – were detonated in Birmingham, Leipzig in eastern Germany and Warsaw, Poland.
Polish authorities say members behind the plot were reportedly head-hunted by a GRU handler, Colonel Denis Smolyanino, through a Russian-language Telegram account used by Ukrainian refugees
Officials from Poland’s security service have linked a plot to firebomb a warehouse in Wroclaw, in July, as well as the arson attack on Warsaw’s 44 shopping centre in May, which obliterated more than 1,400 small businesses.
A probe by Polish officials tabled the blame squarely at the feet of ‘Russian special services’ who they accused of ‘ordering’ the mayhem after recruiting people on Telegram.
Throughout 2023 and 2024, at least eight adverts were shared on Grey Zone, calling for volunteers to join cells across Europe to fight in the battle against countries supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders, reported The Times.
According to the paper, the most recent advert posted in June of last year, said the Wagner group was looking to ramp up its operations across Africa and provided four numbers for hopeful recruits to call.
Hailing the position as the ‘best job in the world’, the advert said it would give people the ‘right to defend Russia’s interests abroad’ while also giving them the chance to ‘get a healthy tan’.
The fire caused £100,000 of damage to vital Starlink equipment due to be sent to Ukraine
Pictured is the aftermath of the blaze which ripped through the industrial unit
It was something that enticed Earl.
After being put in touch with a handler, he was later given orders to carry out an in-depth reconnaissance on the warehouses which the group claimed was being used to aid ‘Ukrainian terrorists’.
The warehouses were owned by British-Ukrainian businessman Mikhail Boikov and were used to store aid for Kyiv – as well as Starlink equipment, which could be used to help frontline troops to communicate with each other through Elon Musk’s network of space satellites.
Earl went about hiring his team of covert saboteurs, with the promise of £1,000 once they carried out their mission.
But they were hardly soldiers.
Jake Reeves, 23, from Croydon, was working as a Gatwick aircraft cleaner and volunteering for criminal jobs on a Telegram group after failing his GCSEs and becoming obsessed with the gangster lifestyle portrayed on the game Grand Theft Auto.
Reeves brought in his former college friends, Rose, who already had criminal convictions and Mensah.
Asmena, a Lithuanian living with his drug-addicted mother in a squat in Roehampton, South London also volunteered.
On Tuesday Rose, Mensah and Asmena were convicted of aggravated arson after an Old Bailey trial.
Reeves pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to the same offence and agreeing to accept money from a foreign intelligence service.
All five men now face the prospect of being jailed when they are sentenced at a later date.
Pictured is the car which jurors heard took the gang to their location
Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command slammed the group for joining a Wagner plot. He aid ‘the ringleaders – Earl and Reeves – willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state’.
‘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.’ he added.
The Government insists the National Security Act 2023 is making the UK an even harder target for ‘hostile states’ like Russia to target.
It includes a new set of offences, measures and investigatory powers, which are used to clampdown.
In April, Security Minister Dan Jarvis announced Russia would be placed on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, meaning anyone working for the Russian state in the UK will need to declare what they are doing or risk committing an offence under the National Security Act 2023.
Speaking after the sentencing of Earl’s group of mercenaries, Mr Jarvis added: ‘Another proxy group acting for Russia has been brought to justice, thanks to the work of our criminal justice system.
‘National security is the foundation of our Plan for Change, and these convictions should serve as a clear warning to those seeking to undermine our national security or the safety of the UK.
‘Those acting on Russia’s behalf will be met by the full force of the law.’
