Teen jailed over Foxtrot murder plot

A Norwegian teenager who travelled to England with two loaded handguns for a contract killing has been sentenced to 20 years’ detention after being convicted of conspiracy to murder.

Johannes Natland, 19, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court after a jury at his retrial found him guilty of agreeing to carry out a killing for the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group that prosecutors said has links to the Iranian government. He had already admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition.

The case matters beyond one teenager with a hotel room arsenal. It shows how an organised crime network can outsource lethal violence across borders, using encrypted messages, cash and young recruits with little apparent connection to the intended victim. The intended victim in this case was never identified.

The court heard Natland flew from Stavanger to Manchester on 17 March 2025 using an emergency passport after his standard passport had expired. He was directed through videos sent on Signal to Huddersfield, where weapons, a stolen car and cash had been prepared for him. Police arrested him at the Briar Court Hotel with two working guns and 19 rounds of live ammunition hidden under his bed.

Counter Terrorism Policing London said officers were forced to move quickly after Norwegian police arrested the teenager who had recruited Natland and found messages about the UK plot on his phone. That intervention appears to have prevented the plan from moving from preparation to a shooting. Commander Helen Flanagan said police had not established who the intended victim was.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Natland he had agreed to “assassinate another human being” for money and had multiple chances to withdraw. The court heard he had been offered 270,000 Norwegian kroner, about £21,000.

His defence pointed to drug use and mental illness. According to the BBC’s account of the hearing, Natland had previously described heavy drug use and drug-induced psychosis, and his barrister said this had impaired his ability to make rational decisions. The judge accepted that no one was physically harmed, but concluded that if police had not intervened, Natland would have carried out the killing.

That leaves a blunt result. The state can sentence the courier of a murder plot. It still cannot say who, in England, was marked to die.