Inside the Shadow Network: How Russian Mercenaries Covertly Recruited UK Criminals for a Deadly Grey Zone Plot Against London

So, here’s a thought to chew on: what happens when a bunch of everyday blokes—drug dealers, airport cleaners, and the like—get sucked into the shadowy world of international mischief, courtesy of a notorious Russian mercenary gang? It turns out, they didn’t just stumble into trouble by accident. Recruited by the UK’s banned Wagner group, these men ignited a warehouse in London stocked with crucial supplies for Ukraine. This isn’t your typical bang-bang act of war, but something murkier—a ‘grey zone’ attack, a cunning blend of sabotage and skullduggery that blurs the lines of conflict. It’s like if you’re not quite at war, but your neighbors keep setting your lawn on fire—frustrating, confusing, and downright unsettling. What’s scarier? This kind of covert chaos is becoming more common, shaking the sense of normalcy we all cling to. Dive into the labyrinth of Telegram chats, shadowy handlers, and half-baked arson plots that reveal just how thin the veil between peace and pandemonium has become. LEARN MORE

Men found guilty of an arson attack on a London warehouse that held supplies intended for Ukraine were recruited by the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK.

MPs have warned that Brits face an increasing risk of ‘grey zone’ attacks, which is where an enemy strikes in a way that is not quite warfare but is still attempting to damage or destabilise a country.

‘Grey zone’ attacks can range from propaganda and disinformation up to sabotage and assassination on another nation’s soil.

If Russia had flown a plane over the UK and dropped a bomb on the warehouse that would have been an act of war, but getting one of its mercenary groups to recruit people in the UK to set it on fire is a little more blurry.

According to the BBC, the men who set the warehouse on fire did it for money and got their orders from drug dealer Dylan Earl and Gatwick airport cleaner Jake Reeves, who got instructions from Russian accounts on Telegram.

Dylan Earl (right) was identified by Russian accounts on Telegram as a possible candidate to form a cell (CPS/PA Wire)

How does a terror cell work?

Put simply, a terror cell is a small group of individuals organised to carry out terrorist acts.

Trevor Barnes told the Standard that the Wagner group’s ‘playbook’ in recruiting people in the UK was laid bare when thousands of messages were shown during the trial detailing how the Russian handlers developed their own cell to carry out their attack and plan another.

The intelligence expert explained that recruiting people online was a ‘crucial component’ of their strategy, typically targeting petty criminals.

He said they use a four step process ‘spot, groom, test and task’, keeping a lookout for possible pro-Russian Brits online before getting in touch with them and starting to talk, then seeing if they would carry out instructions before giving them something to attack.

On Telegram, Earl joined channels full of pro-Russian propaganda which resulted in him getting on Wagner’s radar.

Initially speaking to an account called Minsk KGB, Dylan Earl was then contacted by one called Privet Bot which bluntly asked him: “Do you have any friends among hooligans or acquaintances in the IRA?”

They also told him they wanted him to ‘organise partisan cells in the country and in Europe’.

The Telegram accounts Earl spoke to told him to scout out the warehouse and then burn it (London Fire Brigade/PA Wire)

They told Earl to conduct some surveillance of the warehouse on 18 March last year, the warehouse fire would occur two days later.

A Telegram account linked to the proscribed terror group Wagner told Earl: “We have our first task for you. The map shows there are a few buildings at this address. And there are warehouses among them.

“They sponsor and provide aid to Ukrainian terrorists. Today we await from you photos and videos of the warehouse and the building and of the people owners of the warehouse.”

Earl contacted Reeves via Telegram to find people willing to carry out the attack, and Reeves got acquaintance Nii Mensah to agree, with him saying ‘I’m down for da causee bro. 3 ppl and car’.

Mensah and Jakeem Rose were the ones who set fire to the warehouse while Ugnius Asmena waited nearby with a getaway car.

61-year-old Paul English was also with them, but was not found guilty of arson after he denied in court knowing what was going to happen.

After burning the warehouse, Earl was directed to attack businesses belonging to an exiled Russian businessman (Lucy North/PA Wire)

The arsonists set the warehouse alight while streaming it to Earl before they fled the scene, Rose left behind a knife with his DNA on it.

Earl’s Wagner handler was unhappy that more damage was not done, with them messaging him: “You rushed into burning these warehouses without my approval. Now it will be impossible to pay for this arson.

“We could have burned the warehouses much better and more if we had coordinated our actions. It was necessary to set fire in different places all around the perimeter at once and it would be bigger.”

They were then told to target a London wine shop and restaurant run by exiled Russian businessman Evgeny Chichvarkin, who had driven trucks carrying medical supplies to Ukraine following Putin’s invasion.

Reeves said the Wagner group wanted the exiled businessman kidnapped ‘to get him sent back to Russia for imprisonment’, they got someone to scout out the wine shop but were arrested before they could carry out another act.

On 9 April Earl told his handler ‘I can be the best spy you have ever seen’, the following day he was arrested in a B&Q car park.