OMM Newsroom
A Norwegian teenager has been sentenced to 20 years’ detention in Britain over a murder plot after being recruited by a Swedish organised crime group linked to the Iranian government, Reuters reported.
Johannes Natland, now 19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, northern England, in March 2025. Police found two firearms and ammunition in his possession.
Prosecutors said Natland had been recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group used by the Iranian state and sanctioned by Britain and the United States.
Natland admitted possessing a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and ammunition, but denied conspiring to murder. He said he had not intended to carry out the plan.
He was convicted in July after a retrial. Woolwich Crown Court in London sentenced him to 20 years’ detention on Friday.
Natland is the latest young adult to stand trial in Britain and elsewhere over serious crimes allegedly committed after being recruited online for money, often as an unwitting proxy for a foreign state.
