Norwegian teen who planned UK murder was recruited by Iran-linked Swedish crime group

A Norwegian teenager traveled to Britain to carry out a murder in return for money, having been recruited by a Swedish organized crime group used by the Iranian government, British prosecutors told a London court on Wednesday.

Johannes Natland, now 19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield in northern England in March last year in possession of two firearms and ammunition, prosecutor Alistair Richardson told London’s Old Bailey Court.

“He had been recruited by an organization called the Foxtrot Network to an agreement that in return for money, he would travel here and undertake a hit,” Richardson said.

“The group that had recruited him, the Foxtrot Network, is a Swedish organized crime group used by the Iranian regime.”

Natland denies a charge of conspiracy to murder an unknown person.

Richardson told the jury that Natland had already pleaded guilty to possessing a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, and live ammunition in October.

“We do not know who the defendant was planning to murder, but as you will see from his messages, the messages of others, and what he told his friends in Norway before he set out on his plan, it was clear that was his plan,” he said.

The messages, the prosecutor told the court, showed that a figure with the user name “Agent 47” was in charge. In discussions with another individual about “getting an assassin,” Agent 47 said there was 25,000 euros in the pot, Richardson said.

He told the court that the first person they had intended to commit the murder was having second thoughts, and so they turned to Natland.

“This was a murder that needed to be completed,” Richardson said.

In 2024, both Sweden’s Säpo security service and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency said that Iran had been carrying out activities inside the Sweden for several years that threaten security.

The Israeli spy agency had opened an investigation alongside European counterparts after an explosive device, said to be a hand grenade, was found inside the grounds of the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm in January and destroyed by the Swedish national bomb squad.

After interrogating the suspects and examining forensic evidence, the investigators concluded that the Foxtrot organized crime ring in Sweden was behind the attack, at Iran’s behest, according to the Mossad.