The Norwegian contract killing plot has ended in a guilty verdict after a British court convicted a 19-year-old Norwegian man of travelling to the United Kingdom to carry out a murder-for-hire operation.
Teen Convicted Over Alleged Murder-for-Hire Mission
Johannes Kongsnes Natland, from Stavanger, Norway, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder following a retrial at London’s Old Bailey after jurors deliberated for more than seventeen hours before reaching their verdict.
Prosecutors said Natland agreed to assassinate an unidentified target for €25,000 after allegedly being recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organized crime group reportedly linked to the Iranian government.
The court heard Natland travelled from Norway to England in March 2025 before checking into a hotel in Huddersfield, where armed police arrested him only two days after his arrival.
During the operation, officers recovered a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and nineteen rounds of ammunition hidden inside a plastic bag beneath the teenager’s hotel bed before any attack could occur.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb remanded Natland into custody after the guilty verdict. He showed little visible reaction in court and is scheduled to be sentenced later this October.
Evidence, Messages and Trial Testimony
Prosecutors argued that investigators uncovered extensive evidence proving Natland understood he had travelled to Britain to kill someone as part of an organized criminal operation directed from overseas.
One message presented during the trial showed Natland telling his girlfriend, “I’m going on crazy mission. It will be a bit cool to kill someone. If I don’t get caught we have to celebrate.”
When heavily armed police officers entered his hotel room, Natland reportedly emerged wearing only boxer shorts and mimed firing an imaginary gun at officers before surrendering without resistance.
The intended victim has never been publicly identified. Authorities said counterterrorism investigators disrupted the alleged assassination plot before it could be carried out, preventing what could have been a deadly attack.
Natland insisted throughout his trial that he never intended to commit murder. He claimed he initially believed the proposal was merely a “joke” or “scam” rather than a genuine criminal mission.
He later testified that once he realized the danger, he considered deliberately injuring himself to avoid carrying out the killing, telling jurors he planned to “shoot himself in the foot.”
The defendant also rejected suggestions that he was a professional killer, telling the court, “I wasn’t an international assassin. I thought people had this impression and expected me to be this guy.”
However, prosecutors challenged that account by presenting testimony from one of Natland’s friends, who recalled him boasting that he was “going to get a lot of money and somebody is going to die.”
Natland dismissed those comments as empty bravado, insisting he was secretly frightened. Prosecutors also alleged he lied after his arrest and attempted to discourage his girlfriend from giving evidence.
Lead prosecutor Alistair Richardson described Natland as “a troubled but dangerous young man” who willingly agreed to travel abroad and kill another person in exchange for financial reward.
Investigators traced Natland’s alleged recruitment to his teenage years after becoming involved with members of the Foxtrot Network, where he reportedly came under the direction of a recruiter known as “Generalen.”
Court proceedings also revealed that Natland was allegedly controlled by an English-speaking handler known only as “Agent 47,” whose identity and current whereabouts remain unknown to investigators.
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The Norwegian contract killing plot has renewed concerns about the growing reach of international organized crime networks, highlighting how foreign criminal groups allegedly recruit vulnerable young people for violent cross-border operations.
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