Johannes Kongsnes Natland, a 19-year-old from Norway, has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder after plotting a killing in England. The teenager was recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Sweden-based criminnal organization, to carry out an assassination in exchange for a payment of £21,000.
A £21,000 hit and a Huddersfield hotel arrest
Johannes Kongsnes Natland, who previously worked at a pizza restaurant and aspired to be a lawyer, was apprehended by police in a hotel room in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. According to the report, officers discovered two functional firearms, 19 rounds of live ammunition, and £2,000 in cash during the March ambush. Natland had traveled from his home in Stavanger, Norway, under the guise of playing football, but had actually flown to Manchester to execute a target for the Foxtrot Network.
During his trial at the Old Bailey, evidence revealed that Natland had messaged his girlfriend expressing excitement about the mission, stating it would be "cool" to "finally kill someone." While Natland came from a middle-class background in a town enriched by North Sea oil, prosecutors argued he was a prime example of the vulnerable youth targeted by international crime syndicates.
The 'Violence-as-a-Service' model and the Samurai Kids
The Foxtrot Network utilizes a recruitment strategy that Europol has termed "violence-as-a-service" (VaaS), treating contract killings like a gig-economy transaction. as the report says, the gang leverages social media platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Signal, and Telegram to find recruits.. One particularly large Telegram group, known as the Samurai Kids, reportedly boasted between 10,000 and 11,000 members before it was shut down.
The organizational structure of the Foxtrot Network is strictly tiered to insulate the leadership. At the top are the "instigators" who finance and order the crimes. Below them are "recruiters," often young men aged 15 to 18,who post advertisements and vet applicants. The bottom tier consists of "enforcers"—the individuals who carry out the actual violence—who have included children as young as 13 years old.
Rawa Majid and the Iranian regime's shadow
The Foxtrot Network is led by Rawa Majid, a Swedish-Iraqi national known as "the Kurdish Fox," who controls a significant portion of the Scandinavian drug trade. Majid has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom due to his alleged role in conducting attacks across Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime. The gang's activities often target Jewish and Israeli interests, including a January 2024 incident where an explosive device was discovered outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm.
By blending narco-trafficking with state-sponsored political violence, Rawa Majid has expanded the Foxtrot Network's influence beyond Sweden.. The group's ability to operate across borders suggests a sophisticated logistical network capable of moving waepons and personnel into the UK and across the Scandinavian peninsula with relative ease.
The under-15 loophole and the Bislett nail salon bombing
The Foxtrot Network specifically targets minors to exploit a legal loophole in Scandinavia where children under 15 cannot be held criminally responsible. This legal shield makes young children the ideal "enforcers" for the syndicate. This trend has recently spilled over into Norway, where the gang has been linked to a series of violent attacks using smuggled weaponry.
Recent incidents in Norway highlight the severity of this expansion.. On September 23, 2025, grenades exploded outside a nail salon in the Bislett area of Oslo, an attack police linked to two 13-year-old boys who were allegedly recruited via TikTok and paid 30,000 NOK (£2,000).. This was followed by a shooting in Sarpsborg on September 30 involving boys aged 12, 13, and 14, and a grenade attack at a sushi restaurant in Strömme carried out by a 15-year-old.
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