Norwegian teen 'hitman' detained for UK murder plot

A teenager who travelled from Norway to the UK to carry out a "hit" for an organised crime group has been sentenced to 20 years' detention.

Johannes Natland, 19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with two working guns and 19 rounds of live ammunition in March 2025, the Old Bailey previously heard.

During his retrial, a jury heard the teen was "recruited" by the Foxtrot Network, which was described as a Swedish organised crime group backed by the Iranian regime.

Natland, who had admitted to possession of the firearms and ammunition, was unanimously found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday.

The Foxtrot Network has been sanctioned by both the UK and the US for its close links to the Iranian government, with Natland's target remaining unclear.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: "We haven't been able to establish exactly who the intended victim was."

The Foxtrot Network is known for pioneering a relatively new phenomenon of hiring teenage killers that Europol has called "violence-as-a-service" (VaaS).

At the sentencing hearing, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Natland: "The Foxtrot Network is an organised crime group which has developed an arm's-length method of recruiting young people to carry out violent crimes.

"You were recruited to travel to England to kill an unidentified target."

Natland had been offered 270,000 Norwegian Kroner, about £21,000, to carry out the killing.

He flew into Manchester Airport on an emergency passport on 17 March 2025, shortly after his 18th birthday.

Natland was guided by videos on the messaging app Signal to Huddersfield, where the guns, a stolen car and a stash of cash were hidden.

He was prevented from carrying out the hit after Norwegian police arrested the teenager who had recruited him for the Foxtrot Network and found messages about the UK plot on his phone.

There was then a race against time to find Natland before he located his unknown target in England.

Addressing Natland, the judge said: "At the heart of this case is a stark fact. You agreed to assassinate another human being, a stranger to you, in a foreign country.

"You knew nothing of that person's life or circumstances. You were just 18 years old when you placed yourself in readiness to murder for money."

He was told: "Although the fact that no one was shot dead or physically harmed is important, I am sure had the intervention of the police not prevented the plan from proceeding, you would have done what you had agreed to."

Natland was at the Briar Court Hotel with two handguns hidden under his bed when he was arrested by police.

When he saw officers at the door, he mimed shooting one of them with his hands before he was pushed against the wall and handcuffed.

"There was pressure because he'd come into the country, and we knew his intention was to carry out a murder on UK soil," said Flanagan.

"We had to move at pace and we intervened really quickly, and just before he sort of moved towards committing that murder."

Natland grew up in the oil city of Stavanger in south-west Norway.

Despite being a promising young footballer, he started taking drugs aged 13 and later dropped out of school.

He previously told the Old Bailey that by last year he was taking drugs "pretty much every day".

He became paranoid his parents were trying to kill him and he ended up in a psychiatric unit with drug-induced psychosis.

Natland's barrister, Paul Hynes KC, said the "mental illness was exacerbated, if not created, by the self-induced consumption of drugs", which had "affected his ability to make rational, good decisions".

The defendant said he spent a short period in a "home for problem children" where he met one of those who later recruited him to the Foxtrot Network, a teenager with the username UnknownHustler.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Natland: "You agreed to be the enforcer and pursued it, despite numerous opportunities to extricate yourself."

Within two days of being recruited, Natland flew from Stavanger to Manchester, using the emergency passport as his normal one had expired.

He was stopped by Border Force officials in Manchester and was told to return to the airport to catch the next direct flight home.

Instead, he took a taxi to the hotel in Huddersfield before taking another taxi to a wooded area.

He picked up £2,000 in cash, two guns and bullets, and was directed to a stolen Nissan with false plates to be used in the killing.

The judge added at sentencing: "You returned to the hotel with two guns and 19 bullets.

"You were sent directions to where a stolen car bearing false number plates was parked with its key, after which you bought rubber gloves, took photos and made videos of what you had acquired, including with the money spread out on the hotel bed."

From his hotel room, Natland bragged to his girlfriend he had the "bangs in the bag" and took selfies in his room.

At his trial, one of Natland's footballer friends recalled him talking about the "Swedish Foxes" and telling him: "I'm going to get a lot of money and somebody is going to die."

Natland also confided in his girlfriend before leaving for the UK, saying in a message: "I'm going on crazy mission."

According to her, he said: "Now I can finally kill someone and it's perfect as I get money to do it.

"I can kill someone and life will be wonderful."

Giving evidence, Natland said he wanted to look "cool" to his peers but it was just "bravado" and inside he was "terrified".

He told jurors: "I wasn't an international assassin. I thought people had this impression and expected me to be this guy. I knew I wasn't."

Natland admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition but claimed he would have shot himself in the foot to get out of the "pickle" he was in.

Flanagan said: "Natland was clearly being tasked by someone in the Foxtrot Network, an organised criminal group sanctioned by the UK and the US due to its involvement in orchestrating violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime.

"The intended target of this specific assassination has never been identified, and we found no evidence of any direct link to Iran in this case.

"However, as recent events have shown, Counter Terrorism Policing will seek to proactively disrupt any attempts by hostile states to carry out criminal acts in the UK."

Natland was told he will have to serve at least two thirds of the 20-year sentence behind bars.

The Norwegian lawyers acting for the 19-year-old said they would work to have him transferred to Norway to serve his sentence.

"Twenty years is a very severe sentence for a boy who was 18 when he was arrested," they said in a statement.

"The other young people convicted in the related proceedings in Norway mainly received youth sentences or community sentences.

"We will take the time to consider the sentence carefully, together with him, his family and his British legal team."

Counter Terrorism Policing said it continued to investigate those suspected of helping Natland obtain firearms and a stolen car.

In September 2025, a 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and was later released under investigation.

Two men, aged 30 and 27, were arrested in Bradford on 20 May on suspicion of handling stolen goods, specifically a car.

They were taken into custody before being released on bail.

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