Talented footballer Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, agreed to shoot an unknown target for 25,000 euros (£21,500) in March last year.
asserted
Natland → agree → March
Natland admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition but claimed he would have shot himself in the foot to get out of the “pickle” he was in.
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he → admit → pickle
He was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to 20 years detention on Friday.
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He → find → Friday
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“You agreed to be the enforcer and pursued it, despite numerous opportunities to extricate yourself.
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You → read → yourself
“Although the fact that no one was shot dead or physically harmed is important, I am sure had the intervention of the police not prevented the plan from proceeding, you would have done what you had agreed to.
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you → shoot → what
She said messages he sent showed “not only participation but at points excitement” about what he was planning to do.
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he → say → what
The court heard that Natland was recruited by another teenager referred to as “Generalen” who was working for the proscribed Swedish Foxtrot gang.
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who → hear → gang
Natland was controlled by an English-speaking boss called Agent 47, in an apparent reference to the Hitman gaming and film franchise.
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Natland → control → franchise
Under Agent 47’s close direction, Natland took a flight from Stavanger to Manchester Airport on a temporary passport on March 17 last year.
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Natland → take → March
He was stopped by Border Force officials in Manchester who bailed him to return to the airport to catch the next direct flight home.
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who → stop → flight
Instead, he took a taxi to Huddersfield where he picked up £2,000 in cash, two guns and bullets and was directed to a stolen Nissan with false plates to be used in the killing.
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he → take → killing
From his room at the Briar Court Hotel, Natland bragged to his girlfriend he had the “bangs in the bag” and took selfies with the guns and cash spread on his bed.
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he → brag → bed
At 5.15am the next day armed police banged on the teenager’s hotel room door to arrest him.
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police → bang → him
A smiling Natland emerged wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and pretended to shoot one of the officers with his empty hands.
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Natland → smile → hands
In a search of his room, police seized a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, 12 rounds of live ammunition, gloves and £2,000 in cash.
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police → seize → cash
At his trial, one of Natland’s footballer friends recalled him talking about the “Swedish Foxes” and telling him: “I’m going to get a lot of money and somebody is going to die.”
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somebody → recall → money
Natland had also confided in his girlfriend before leaving for the UK, saying in a message: “I’m going on crazy mission.”
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I → confide → mission
According to her, he said: “Now I can finally kill someone and it’s perfect as I get money to do it.
uncertain
I → accord → it
I can kill someone and life will be wonderful.”
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life → kill → someone
Giving evidence, Natland said he wanted to look “cool” to his peers but it was just “bravado” and inside he was “terrified”.
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he → give → peers
He told jurors: “I wasn’t an international assassin.
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I → tell → jurors
I thought people had this impression and expected me to be this guy.
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me → think → impression
I knew I wasn’t.”
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I → know → ?
Despite having supportive parents, his life went downhill after he became addicted to drugs and he was placed in rehab and a care home, he said.
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he → have → rehab
Natland’s recruiter, a 17-year-old youth known as “Generalen”, was convicted in Norway of attempting to “contribute to murder” in May last year.
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recruiter → know → May
Paul Hynes KC, defending, highlighted Natland’s young age at the time of the offending, and said he had been “a young, popular, successful student and sportsman” before he went “off the rails” after he started abusing drugs.
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he → defend → drugs
He said his client has changed and is no longer the same young man who received a message asking: “Is anyone up for murder for money?”
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anyone → say → money
Hynes argued Natland did not present a danger in the future, saying: “This whole experience can only be a chastening, humbling and frightening one.
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experience → argue → future
He has on any view learned his lesson.”
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He → learn → lesson
Three more people have been charged by Norwegian police, with a decision yet to be taken by prosecutors whether to “indict” them.
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decision → charge → them
In September 2025, a 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and has been released under investigation.
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man → arrest → investigation
Two men, aged 30 and 27, were arrested in Bradford on May 20 on suspicion of handling stolen goods relating to a car.
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men → arrest → car
They were released on bail.
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They → release → bail
The identity and whereabouts of Agent 47 remains unknown.
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identity → remain → Agent
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) London, credited the “exceptional work” of British police working with Norwegian counterparts for Natland’s arrest hours before he was due to carry out an assassination.
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he → credit → assassination
“Natland was clearly being tasked by someone in the Foxtrot Network, an organised criminal group sanctioned by the UK and the US due to its involvement in orchestrating violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime.
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Natland → task → regime
“The intended target of this specific assassination has never been identified, and we found no evidence of any direct link to Iran in this case.
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we → identify → case
“However, as recent events have shown, CTP will seek to proactively disrupt any attempts by hostile states to carry out criminal acts in the UK.”
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CTP → show → UK
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