By Sammy Jones-
A Norwegian teenager who travelled to the UK to carry out a contract killing for a notorious Swedish organised crime network has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder after an Old Bailey jury rejected his claim that he never intended to carry out the attack.
Johannes Natland, 19, was convicted following a retrial after jurors deliberated for just over 17 hours. He showed no emotion as the unanimous verdict was delivered. Natland had already admitted possessing two firearms and 19 rounds of live ammunition after police arrested him at a hotel in Huddersfield in March 2025, but denied plotting to murder an unidentified target.
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Prosecutors said Natland had been recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group sanctioned by both the UK and the United States because of its links to the Iranian regime.
The organisation has become notorious for exploiting teenagers as contract killers in what Europol has described as “violence-as-a-service” (VaaS), advertising murder-for-hire opportunities through encrypted messaging platforms.
The court heard that Natland was recruited just two days before travelling to Britain after responding to what investigators described as an online tender for a killing. The message was stark: “Killing in England 270k.
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Have transport ready out of the country. Will smuggle assassin out of the country. The police will be paid to look the other way. Nothing can go wrong.” The payment of 270,000 Norwegian kroner was worth around £21,000.
Natland, who grew up in Stavanger in south-west Norway, was added to an encrypted Signal chat called “Assassin EU”, alongside his teenage recruiter, known only by the online alias “Generalen”, and another senior Foxtrot figure using the username “Agent 47”. His first message to the group was: “Who is to be killed?” The identity of the intended victim remains unknown.
Agent 47 arranged Natland’s one-way flight from Stavanger to Manchester on 17 March 2025 using an emergency passport after his normal passport had expired.
Although Border Force officers became suspicious because he had little money, no hotel booking and no return ticket, they allowed him temporary entry because there was no immediate flight back to Norway.
Following instructions sent through Signal, Natland travelled to Huddersfield, where he collected cash hidden beneath rubbish near a footpath tunnel before checking into the Briar Court Hotel. He was then directed to nearby woodland, where he recovered a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and ammunition concealed in undergrowth.
Back at the hotel, Natland filmed himself handling the weapons and sent the videos to friends. He also posed for a photograph with bundles of cash spread across his hotel bed. Messages exchanged with Agent 47 showed Natland asking when he would be paid for the killing. “You will get it when the job is done,” came the reply.
The assassination plot unravelled after Norwegian police arrested Generalen at Oslo Airport. Officers examining his mobile phone discovered messages detailing a planned murder in England and urgently alerted British authorities.
Because of the Foxtrot Network’s alleged connections to Iran, Counter Terrorism Policing joined the investigation as officers raced to locate Natland before the planned shooting could take place.
Armed officers arrested him at 5.15am on 19 March in Room 207 of the Briar Court Hotel. As he emerged from the room and saw the green laser sights from police firearms officers trained on his chest, Natland mimed shooting at one of the officers before being restrained and handcuffed. His two loaded firearms remained hidden beneath the hotel bed.
During the trial, Natland claimed he never intended to carry out the murder, telling jurors he had found himself in “a major pickle” and had instead planned to shoot himself in the foot as a way of escaping the assignment. The jury rejected that account.
The case also exposed the wider structure of the Foxtrot Network. Generalen, who cannot be identified because he was 17 at the time, was convicted in Norway earlier this year over the UK conspiracy, multiple attempted murders and arson attacks carried out on behalf of the gang.
He was also convicted over two murders in Sweden, including the fatal shooting of Ahmed Zamzam at Lund Central Station and the killing of Murad Abdelkader in Stockholm, whom he later admitted had been the wrong target.
Investigators believe Generalen reported directly to a senior Foxtrot operative known as Agent 47, whom Swedish police identify as Ali Shehab Ahmed. The 22-year-old was arrested in Iraq in December and is awaiting extradition to Sweden, where he is regarded as one of the criminal network’s key figures and a close associate of its leader, Rawa Majid.
Natland’s background was also examined during the trial. The son of two journalists and once regarded as a promising footballer, he said he began taking drugs at the age of 13 and was later admitted to a psychiatric unit suffering from drug-induced psychosis after becoming convinced his parents wanted to kill him.
He told the court he met one of his future recruiters while living in a residential home for troubled children. Following the verdict, Frank Ferguson, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, described the case as “a calculated plan to kill for money” and said it demonstrated how organised crime groups exploit vulnerable young people to commit extreme violence across international borders.
He praised the swift cooperation between Norwegian and British authorities, saying the plot had been stopped before anyone was harmed. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb remanded Natland in custody following his conviction. He is due to be sentenced in October.
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