Norwegian Teen Convicted in £21,000 Foxtrot Murder Plot as Europol Ties Gang to 35 Killings
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Aug 1
Norwegian Teen Convicted in £21,000 Foxtrot Murder Plot as Europol Ties Gang to 35 Killings
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Aug 1
Summary
Johannes Natland was convicted in London of conspiracy to murder after flying to Manchester in March 2025 for a Foxtrot-ordered hit near Huddersfield, with guns and cash hidden for him in woodland.
£21,000 was the promised fee in messages offering a "killing in England," part of a social-media recruitment chain that Europol says gamifies murder and often uses teenagers who are caught before being paid.
Foxtrot has been linked to about 35 murders since 2022 and to attacks on Israeli or Iranian-regime targets in Europe after leader Rawa Majid relocated to Tehran, according to police and researchers.
The same recruiter behind Natland also enlisted Swedish teens including Atilla Azimov, now serving life for killing the wrong man, while another recruiter received 14 years in Norway.
OTF GRIMM, a Europol task force spanning 11 countries, says it has made more than 280 arrests, but Majid remains in Iran and rival gangs are already copying the violence-as-a-service model.
Are European teenagers unknowingly acting as disposable assassins for foreign regimes hiding behind encrypted crime networks?
When murder becomes a video game, how can parents spot deadly online recruiters targeting teens before the first shot is fired?
If teenage hitmen are manipulated like game characters online, should they be punished as ruthless killers or rescued as exploited victims?
From Stavanger to the Old Bailey: How Iran’s Foxtrot Network Weaponized European Youth for Contract Killings (2024–2026)
Overview
This report traces how Johannes Natland, a Norwegian teenager whose life unraveled due to early drug abuse, was recruited in a youth facility by a peer linked to the Foxtrot Network. After accepting a contract killing offer, Natland traveled to the UK, retrieved hidden cash and firearms, but was stopped by a rapid international police operation triggered by evidence found on his recruiter’s phone. The case reveals how the Foxtrot Network, protected by Iranian intelligence, uses digital platforms to exploit vulnerable youth for violent acts across borders, prompting new laws and coordinated law enforcement efforts to disrupt these transnational crime pipelines.