Norwegian teen jailed for 20 years in UK for Iran-linked murder plot after being recruited online

A Norwegian teenager, Johannes Natland, was sentenced to 20 years in a UK prison for planning to commit murder after being recruited online by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish criminal group linked to Iran. He was convicted in July of conspiracy to murder. The case highlights the recruitment of young adults as proxies for foreign states.

A Norwegian teenager, Johannes Natland, now 19, was sentenced to 20 years in a UK prison on Friday for planning to commit murder in Britain after being recruited online by a Swedish organized crime group linked to Iran. British prosecutors said Natland was recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish criminal group that pays young people to carry out 'violence as a service' on behalf of clients, including the Iranian state. He was convicted in July of conspiracy to murder. Natland had not been told the identity of the person he had agreed to kill in return for a payment of 270,000 Norwegian kroner, around $28,600. The case is one of several involving young adults recruited online to act as proxies for foreign states. Foxtrot has been linked to murders across Europe, and Britain and the US allege the group was behind attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets on behalf of Iran, which denies the allegation. Natland admitted possessing a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and ammunition, but denied conspiracy to murder, saying he did not intend to carry out the plan. Prosecutors said he was an enthusiastic recruit who boasted to a friend that 'it will be cool to kill someone.' Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said she was sure Natland would have carried out the murder if not arrested. Commander Helen Flanagan of Counter Terrorism Policing London said there was no evidence of any direct link to Iran in Natland's case.