A Norwegian teenager flew to Britain to carry out a hit on behalf of an Iran-linked criminal gang, a court heard.
Johannes Natland, 19, travelled from the oil-rich town of Stavanger, south west Norway, to assassinate a target in the UK ‘in return for money’, the Old Bailey was told.
He was prevented from carrying out the attack after he was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, on March 19 last year, two days after his arrival.
Police found a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, and 12 rounds of live ammunition in his possession, as well as £2,000 in cash, the court heard.
Prosecuting, Alistair Richardson alleged that Natland was ‘committed to the task of murder’.
Johannes Natland, 19, travelled from the oil-rich town of Stavanger, south west Norway, to assassinate a target in the UK ‘in return for money’, the Old Bailey was told
‘Who it was, and why he was to kill them, was entirely immaterial to him,’ Mr Richardson added. ‘It was purely and simply killing to get the money.’
The murder plot was allegedly hatched by a Swedish gang called the Foxtrot Network, ‘an organised crime group used by the Iranian regime’.
The jury were shown messages that indicated a shadowy Foxtrot figure known as ‘Agent 47’, had been in contact with a Norwegian asset called ‘Generalen’ about an assassination in the UK.
‘Generalen’ spread the word among his network, leading to another contact called ‘UnknownHustler’ messaging Natland on March 15 last year.
Natland was told about a ‘murder in England’ worth more than £20,000, that the ‘assassin’ would be smuggled out of the country and ‘nothing can go wrong’.
Nine minutes later, Natland was added to a group on Snapchat, with UnknownHustler and Generalen.
Natland asked them: ‘Who is to be shot?’ and, about 20 minutes later, he messaged his on-off girlfriend: ‘I’m going on a crazy mission’, adding: ‘Wish me luck, hope it’s not a scam.’
The defendant flew from Stavanger to Manchester on March 17.
It was heard that upon arrival he was interviewed by Border Force officials due to concerns over his age and lack of money.
Natland told them he was visiting ‘gamer’ friends he had been playing with online and wanted to visit Manchester landmarks of interest.
The teenager was ultimately refused entry to the UK, but was told to return to the airport for a flight home four days later.
Mr Richardson said this led to ‘the somewhat surprising result that he was allowed into the country’.
The defendant left the airport and took a taxi to a hotel in Manchester. That night, Agent 47 sent him a message reading: ‘Sleep and when you wake up we start.’
The court heard that the following day, Natland collected the guns and ammunition from a wood in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and messaged his girlfriend to say: ‘In the bag is bang.’
At 10.39pm that evening a friend asked Natland: ‘U dun it?’ and he replied: ‘No. tomorrow.’
Asked if he had ‘tested the weapons’ Natland replied: ‘Hell no. They will be tested on the guy.’
He also bought rubber gloves and lined up a car, the prosecutor told jurors.
At 5.15am on the morning of March 19, firearms officers arrested Natland in his room at the Briar Court Hotel in Huddersfield.
Natland came to the door with his hands up, imitating holding a firearm, and pretended to shoot one of the officers.
‘You may think that of itself gives you a little insight about what he was in the United Kingdom to do,’ Mr Richardson said.
Along with the firearms and ammunition they found £2,000 in cash on the bed and desk.
Natland has pleaded guilty to possession of a 9mm semi-automatic Luger pistol and a revolver along with 12 rounds of live ammunition but denies conspiracy to murder.
The jury was told that Foxtrot has been engaged in drug smuggling and violent crimes since it was formed in 2021.
It uses social media to recruit children as young as 13 to carry out attacks, including murder, who rarely have advanced knowledge of who the target is.
Online groups contain anything from a few to several thousand members, with group names such as ‘Samurai Children’.
Mr Richardson told the jury that this helped ‘to understand how an 18-year-old from a foreign country was able to enter into an agreement to murder someone he did not know, and did not care about, in the United Kingdom’.
The trial continues.
