Teenage assassin guilty of flying to UK to carry out murder on behalf of Iran-backed crime group

A TEENAGER has been found guilty of flying to the UK to carry out a murder on behalf of an Iran-backed crime group. Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, was accused of travelling to the UK from Norway to carry out a “hit” for money. Johannes Natland pretended to shoot police with an imaginary gun, jurors heard Credit: PA The teen was arrested at a hotel in Huddersfield Credit: PA A court was told the talented footballer had been tasked by Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group used by the Iranian regime. His alleged plan was thwarted when police came to his hotel room and found a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, and 12 rounds of live ammunition, the court was told. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Natland had denied conspiring to murder an unknown person but admitted possession of the two firearms and ammunition. A jury found him guilty today at the Old Bailey. Social media exchanges appear to show he was offered £21,600 for the hit on an unidentified target. The court heard he told an on-off girlfriend: “I’m going on a crazy mission.” Prosecutor Alastair Richardson told the Old Bailey jury that he “neither knew, nor cared, who he was to kill”. Mr Richardson told the court that Natland, from Stavanger in south-west Norway, had agreed to work for the group “in return for some money”. Most read in The Sun Natland took a selfie showing £2,000 in cash spread across his hotel bed, the court heard Credit: Central News Cops found guns in the hotel, it was said Credit: PA It was heard that an individual referred to as Agent 47 had contacted a figure with username Generalen to ask for someone to carry out an assassination in the UK. Jurors were shown further messages in which Generalen told Agent 47 in a group chat with Natland: “This is the assassin for EU, brother.” Natland then flew from Norway to Manchester Airport on March 17, arriving that evening. When questioned by Border Force officers over concerns surrounding his age and lack of money, he allegedly told them that he had arrived to the city to visit his gamer friends and see landmarks. The following day, Natland was directed to collect the guns and ammunition from a wooded area and messaged his girlfriend to say: “In the bag is bang.” He also bought rubber gloves and lined up a car, the prosecutor told jurors. Natland was arrested in a hotel in Huddersfield with two guns, cash and ammo days after arriving in Britain in March 2025. Police found a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, and 12 rounds of live ammunition in his possession, it was heard. Johannes Natland flew to the UK to carry out a murder on behalf of an Iran-backed crime group, a court heard Credit: Central News The court heard Natland had arrived in the UK days earlier Credit: PA Bodycam footage played to jurors showed armed police arresting Natland at Briar Court Hotel. Officers banged loudly on his hotel room door on March 19 last year, saying: “It’s the police, come to the door.” Natland can then be seen emerging in just a pair of boxer shorts and rubbing his eyes as if he had just woken up. He turned to one of the officers and held his hands up, imitating holding a gun and pretending to shoot him with his empty hands. Another cop immediately took hold of the teen’s left hand, put him against the wall and arrested him on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Asked if there were any weapons in his room, he shook his head slightly. The footage also captured an exchange with one of the officers in which a smiling Natland asked if he was “happy”, saying in Norwegian: “That was fun, like.” As he had travelled on a temporary Norwegian passport, he was stopped and spoken to by a Border Force officer. The trial of the Norwegian teenager is ongoing at the Old Bailey Credit: SWNS The teen allegedly followed a map which to the base of a tree where he collected the guns and ammunition Credit: PA He claimed he had come to the UK with just £40 to “visit friends” who he knew online from playing Fortnite and Fifa, the court heard. Natland also said he worked in a pizza shop, that he may visit a museum and would get more money from a friend who owed him 2,000 Krone (£230). He later claimed he was in the UK for “tourism” and that his mum did not know he was there, jurors were told. He was refused entry into the UK and bailed to return to the airport on March 21 to catch the next direct flight back home to Stavanger. But the following day, Natland allegedly travelled by taxi from Manchester to Huddersfield where he collected cash hidden in a hiding place under a bridge. He later bought a mobile phone and picked up a carrier bag containing two guns and ammunition from another hide in nearby woodland, it was said. The court heard he also bought “work gloves” and a Snickers bar before taking a taxi back to the area he collected the guns. The footballer allegedly came to the UK to carry out a ‘hit’ Credit: PA He was arrested in his pants Credit: PA A stolen Nissan Qashqai was also recovered with cloned number plates that had been referred to by a user known as “1” in a Signal chat with Natland and a contact called “Agent 47”, the court was told. Jurors heard a 17-year-old youth was convicted in Norway last May of attempting as part of the Foxtrot group “to contribute to murder” by recruiting Natland to shoot an unknown person in England. Three more people had been charged by Norwegian police with a decision yet to be taken by prosecutors whether to “indict” them, it was said. Police searching Natland’s room recovered £2,000 in notes from the bed and desk, three pairs of nitrile gloves, a semi-automatic pistol, 17 bullets, of which 12 were viable, and a rusted revolver. Natland was taken to Huddersfield police station where he spoke to a nurse about his history of cannabis use. While waiting to be taken back to a cell after his police interview, the teen gesticulated with his finger to an officer and said: “Sneaky sneaky.” He was charged with firearms offences the next day.