Norwegian Teen Jailed 20 Years for Plot to Kill in Britain
A Norwegian teenager convicted in a UK murder plot for one of Sweden’s most notorious criminal networks has been jailed for 20 years.
Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, travelled to Britain in March 2025 to shoot an unknown target for €25,000 ($28,000). Police arrested him at a hotel in northern England before he could carry out the killing.
The UK murder plot case concluded on Friday when Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb sentenced him at London’s Woolwich Crown Court.
The plot and the arrest
Natland had collected two firearms and live bullets, which officers found in a plastic bag stashed under his hotel room bed. He had picked them up from a nearby wooded area.
He sent messages to friends back in Norway, including pictures of the guns, police revealed. The identity of the intended victim remains unknown.
Natland claimed during the trial that he had not intended to carry out the killing. He said he was instead planning to “shoot himself in the foot” to avoid repercussions if he refused the mission. The jury rejected his account. Jurors at London’s Old Bailey found him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in July. He admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition.
Who hired him: the Foxtrot network
Natland had been hired by the Swedish-based Foxtrot organised crime group, according to London’s Metropolitan Police. The group’s wanted leader, Rawa Majid, has alleged ties to Tehran. The network has been connected to dozens of violent crimes in Sweden in the late 2010s.
The UK government has sanctioned Foxtrot. Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said Natland was “clearly being tasked by someone in the Foxtrot Network”, which is sanctioned by the UK and the US for helping to orchestrate “violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime”.
How the UK murder plot case unfolded in court
Sentencing Natland, Judge Cheema-Grubb said he had agreed to “murder for money” at the age of 18.
“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 and you knew nothing of that person’s life or circumstances,” she told him.
“You were recruited to travel to England to kill an unidentified target,” she added. “You agreed to be the enforcer and pursued it despite numerous opportunities to extricate yourself.”
The judge said Natland had previously been a “good student” from a financially secure home, whose life had been disrupted by cannabis and class A drugs, to the “horror” of his parents. She noted his immaturity, but said he remained “responsible” for his actions.
A widening cross-border investigation
The case reaches beyond one teenager. Natland’s recruiter, a 17-year-old youth, was convicted in Norway in May 2025 of attempting to “contribute to murder”. Three other Norwegian teenagers went on trial in Norway last month on charges of helping plan a killing in Britain.
The pattern points to a recruitment pipeline in which organised crime groups use young people to carry out contract killings across borders. British counter-terrorism police have linked Foxtrot’s activity to a wider campaign of violence in Europe with alleged backing from Tehran.
Foxtrot’s operations have drawn sanctions from both London and Washington, but the network’s leadership remains at large.
The original report appeared in Dawn.
Who is Johannes Kongsnes Natland?
He is a 19-year-old Norwegian who was hired by the Swedish-based Foxtrot organised crime group to kill an unknown target in Britain for €25,000. He was arrested before the attack and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
What is the Foxtrot network?
Foxtrot is a Swedish-based organised crime group led by the wanted fugitive Rawa Majid. It has been linked to dozens of violent crimes in Sweden and is sanctioned by the UK and the US over its alleged role in violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe.
How was the murder plot stopped?
British police arrested Natland at a hotel in northern England before he could act. Officers found two firearms and live ammunition hidden under his hotel room bed.
