Daniel Sandford
UK correspondent
Major city police
Security cameras have won fire in warehouse
Just before midnight on March 20 last year, two small criminals from south London set up a warehouse containing important communications equipment for Ukraine.
They didn’t do it for ideological reasons. Instead, they did it with cash. The pair are arsonists for employment, called “road men” in court and work indirectly for the Wagner group.
The firefighter connection with Wagner was from a small Leicestershire drug dealer known as Dylan Earl.
Five men, including Earl, are currently convicted of involvement in the arson attack, causing £1 million in damages.
Earl was in contact with his Pro Russia account at the beginning of the month on the secure messaging app Telegram.
On one account that had the username Minsk KGB, he discussed whether to fight for Russia in Ukraine and said, “We need a new starter companion. Do we need to speak Russian? Because it’s not the best. [literally] If you have that you will know 30 words. ”
However, by March 16, four days before the attack, he was entrusted with a telegram account linked to the Wagner Group to do some work in the UK.
It used the name Privet Bot, which means “Hello Bot” in Russian, a notorious telegram account that has encouraged sabotage and murder in other parts of Europe.
The account wrote to Earl:
“They sponsor and provide assistance to Ukrainian terrorists. Today we are waiting for your photos and photos and videos of the owners of the warehouse, buildings and warehouses.”
Major city police
Small drug dealer Dylan Earl contacted Jake Leves on Telegram
Some of the messages that a group exchanges are not commonly used to prevent social media filters that track content.
Earl contacted another man, Jake Reeves, who was a cleaner at Gatwick Airport, through a telegram group set up to bring criminals into contact with each other.
At Earl’s request, Reeves, from Croydon in south London, got a local acquaintance of his Nee Mensa.
Mensa never met the Count, but he immediately sent a message to him, saying, “I’m Da CauseeBro. I’m down for 3ppl and the car.”
Major city police
Nii Kojo Mensah photographed Jake’s Rose and filmed it as the warehouse got off
On the night of March 20th, four men departed from south London for Redchia Picant.
Paul English, 61, was on the wheel. In court he denied knowing what will happen at night, and it turns out to be not a crime of arson.
Unius Asmena, 19, sat by him in the passenger seat, while Mensa and his friend Jakem Rose, both 21 at the time, sat in the back.
The four men ran north across the Thames in eastern London, then headed north to the Cromwell Industrial Park. They parked behind the warehouse.
Mensa and Rose left, gathered jelly cans from their boots, climbed up the wall and headed for one and two units. The warehouse that the Wagner Group wanted to burn was used by two companies involved in sending parcels and equipment to Ukraine.
Both are owned and owned by Mikhail Boykov, a Ukrainian businessman in the UK.
It wasn’t a sophisticated attack.
As Mensa streamed the entire event to Earl at Fasetty Time, Rose poured gas along the front of the warehouse, lit up the rags and illuminated the building.
The four men fled at Kia Picanto. However, Rose accidentally left a big zombie-style knife in the scene where he put his DNA on.
Major city police
Ugnius Asmena was in the passenger seat of the getaway car.
In the heavy truck parked next to the warehouse, Yevhen Harasym was about to sleep.
“I heard the crackling of the metal roll on the warehouse door and realized something was going on. I opened the door and saw the fire,” he said, giving evidence in court.
“I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the back of the truck.
“I was able to put out the fire outside the door, but the flames inside the warehouse continued to burn.”
Eventually he had to retreat and move the truck safely.
By the time the fires, including Starlink satellite communications equipment, have been destroyed, have proven essential to the forefront of war in Ukraine.
Major city police
Jame Rose was seen pouring gasoline from a jerry can, just like Nee Mensa filmed him.
Major city police
Yevhen Harasym left his bed and tried to put out the fire
Earl was happy to send a message to his online contact.
However, his Wagner Group Handler Privet Bot did not tell on Telegram:
“If we had coordinated our actions, we could have burned the warehouse better. We had to set fire to various locations around the area, but that would be even bigger.”
Major city police
Fire damage seen from one of the units
Encouraging Earl to be more patient, Privet Bot told him to watch the TV Spy series The Americans.
But he was furious that everyone whom Earl hired didn’t receive payments, further down the chain he hired. Ultimately, eager to more cash, they patched things up. Within two days, Privet Bot did another job for Earl and his men.
“Two locations burning in the west,” Earl wrote to a contact using the handle “Kash Money.” Reconnaissance again. Wine shop. restaurant. “
“How much to?” Kash Money asked.
“£5,000. Probably six,” replied Earl. “If they take a nap [kidnap] Man 15. ”
In a parallel discussion, he wrote to Reeves: “Communication London: £1,000.00 East Warehouse. £5,000.00 West Wine Shop. £5,000.00 West Restaurant. Total – £11,000.00.”
On his Telegram chat with Earl, Reeves still wondered why Wagner wanted the warehouse to burn out. Earl wrote: “We are the mail provider to the UK’s Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It was run by Ukrainians who send over 100 trucks to Ukraine.”
Russia’s “billionaire”
The wine shop and restaurant plot targeted exiled Russian businessman Evgeny Chichvarkin.
He was making hundreds of millions of pounds by creating Evroset, Russia’s largest mobile phone retailer. However, he dropped out along with a hard man from the Russian government and was forced to sell his business in 2008.
He currently runs an award-winning wine shop at Mayfair, London. This is a Michelin starred restaurant called Hedonism Wines and Hide.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he has personally driven several trucks of medical assistance to Ukraine. Reeves wrote on Telegram that Wagner’s contact information was that Chichvarkin wanted an invitation to “sent him back to Russia for imprisonment.”
Evgeny Chichvarkin was never attacked, but his shop was scouted for a plot
Earl persuaded a man who was not charged with the attack to conduct a wine shop reconnaissance.
The shops and restaurants were not actually attacked as counterterrorism police disrupt the conspiracy and Chichbarkin was lured.
Speaking to the BBC, Chichbarkin said he tried to avoid thinking about the threat he faced, even after the failed plot.
Partisan Cells
The Wagner Group’s strategy appears to have been to not only sow wider motivations in the UK, but also target people supporting Ukraine.
At one point, Privet Bot asked Earl:
“We need people you have in Europe and the UK, we need people who are our kinship spirit.
“You need to organize partisan cells in the country and in Europe. And think of the name of your movement. We will give you support.”
As the plan unfolds, Earl began dragging others into suggested inviting them to attacks on Mayfair Wine Shop. Ashton “Ace” Evans was a small dealer running in Pontyworn near Newport, South Wales, and was one of the people approached by the Earl.
“It has to be a pretty companion. Not Barry, but a full mask. [balaclavas]. We can provide it if necessary. gloves. Earl has no numbers written. “It’s 10-15 minutes from Buckingham Palace.”
“Yeah, that’s going to attract a lot of attention,” Evans wrote back. “Mi5 etc.”
“This owner is a Russian billionaire,” Earl explained.
“Does it have to be explo** [explosives] Can it just be fire? ” asked Evans.
Earl replied: “Fire is possible, but if it doesn’t burn completely, they will not pay me more than 25%.”
Evans was found guilty of not telling police about Mayfair’s conspiracy.
Major city police
Ashton Evans was a small drug dealer from South Wales.
By April 9th, the relationship between Earl and his Wagner group’s contact had shown signs of cooling. Earl was worried and sent a stream of messages to Privet Bot.
“I know you can be the best spy you’ve ever seen, but we need more communication and faster work on contracts,” he wrote.
“I’m a very good leader, coordinator and organizer,” he boasted. “I’m offering you… in my country, even in Europe, spying businesses to individuals, businesses and governments.”
Eventually, Privet Bot wrote back what urged him to be patient.
“You remind yourself at your age, and there is something you need to learn. You are our dagger in Europe and we will carefully polish you so that you become sharper.”
On April 10th, Earl was arrested by a counterterrorist detective in the parking lot of the B&Q branch in Hinckley.
verdict
Earl pleaded guilty to preparing serious violence on behalf of foreign forces (Russia), a crime under the new national security law. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated arson, owned cocaine for supply and £20,070 in revenue from the crime.
Reeves pleaded guilty to agreeing to accept money from the foreign intelligence reporting agency (Wagner Group) under the new national security law. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated arson.
During the trial, in old Bailey in London, Judge Cheema Grubb said they would explain what the previous generation did as simply “treason.”
Nii Mensah, Jakeem Rose and Ugnius Asmena are found guilty of aggravated arson. Rose had previously pleaded guilty to possessing a knife.
Driver Paul English, 61, has been exempt from all fraud.
Ashton Evans, 20, has been found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts related to Mayfair’s conspiracy, but has revealed he was unable to inform authorities about arson at the warehouse.
Another man, Dmirjus Paulauskas, 23, was exempt from two similar crimes related to the conspiracy of both terrorists after ry apprentices deliberated for nearly 22 hours.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism command chief, said the response to the national threat, particularly from Russia, had changed following the Salisbury nervous attack in 2018.
“We have made the UK a hostile operating environment,” he said. “As a result, they’re diversifying and are now acting to contact relatively young people and act as agents in doing their work.”
