Julia QuenzlerA Norwegian teenager arrived in the UK to “undertake a hit” on behalf of a Swedish organised crime group linked to Iran, a jury has heard.
Johannes Natland, 19, was arrested in a hotel in Huddersfield on 19 March 2025 with two guns and 12 rounds of ammunition after travelling to the country on an emergency passport.
Prosecutors allege he collected the guns from a “hide” in a wooded area in the West Yorkshire town.
Natland has pleaded guilty to being in possession of two working firearms – a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver – and 12 rounds of live ammunition. He denies a charge of conspiracy to murder.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Alistair Richardson said Natland had been “recruited by an organisation called the Foxtrot network” under an agreement that he would be paid to “travel here and undertake a hit”.
“He was directed by others to a hotel, to a stash of money, and then a stash of guns and ammunition,” the court heard.
The jury was told Foxtrot “is a Swedish organised crime group used by the Iranian regime”.
“We do not know who the defendant was planning to murder,” Richardson told the court.
“He was prevented from committing murder when he was arrested inside a hotel room in Huddersfield.”
The jury were taken through a series of messages in March 2025 between another Norwegian teenager using the name ‘Generalen’ and an account called ‘Agent 47’.
They are discussing an assassination, the court heard, and the fact that the person who was due to carry it out had pulled out.
Richardson said Agent 47 wrote: “Brother, sort an assassin abroad. Urgent. Europe.”
He told Generalen there was €25,000 “in the pot”, the prosecutor added.
When Generalen asked about the location, Richardson said Agent 47 replied: “Great Britain. As easy as can be.”
PA MediaBy 15 March, Generalen was messaging Natland, the court heard, with the defendant then messaging his girlfriend to say he was “going on a crazy mission”.
The next day Agent 47 made a flight booking, the jury was told, however it became clear that Natland’s passport had expired.
Two days later, Natland had arranged an emergency passport and was on his way to Stavanger Airport to board a flight to Manchester, the trial heard.
During the journey, Natland was warned that Generalen had been arrested, the prosecution said.
“Before the defendant set off to the United Kingdom he was well aware that one of the people who had recruited him had been arrested for conspiracy to murder,” Richardson told the jury.
“The defendant’s response to those messages was not to pull out of what he was doing. Not to stop.”
On arrival in Manchester, Natland was detained because he had only £40 in cash, no accommodation booked and no return ticket.
He said that he was coming to visit friends that he had been playing online games with, the jury heard.
UK Border Force officers wanted to call his mother, the court was told, but he said he was 18.
The officers refused Natland entry into the UK, but allowed him to come in temporarily until a flight back to Norway four days later – a “surprising result”, Richardson told the jury.
The next day he took a taxi to West Yorkshire and booked into the Briar Court Hotel in Huddersfield for three days on Agent 47’s instructions, the trial heard.
An account on the Signal messaging app directed Natland to a “hide” at the base of a tree in a wooded area.
“It is apparent from the messaging that he picked up the guns and ammunition,” Richardson told the court.
The prosecution allege Natland later bought three pairs of rubber gloves from a supermarket and was directed to a stolen car.
“Plainly, the car was to be used for the murder planned for the following day,” Richardson told the jury.
“Come on, u dun it?”, a friend of Natland messaged him that night, the court heard.
The jury heard Natland replied: “No tomorrow.”
“Have you tested the weapons?”, his friend asked.
“Hell no. They will be tested on the guy,” Natland replied, according to the prosecution.
“He had signed up to, and intended to commit murder,” Richardson told the court.
In the early hours of the next morning, specialist firearms officers arrested Natland in Room 207 at the Briar Court Hotel.
The prosecution said that as he came to the doorway he imitated holding a gun and pretended with his hands to shoot one of the officers.
In the hotel room police found a semi-automatic Luger pistol, a revolver, some 9mm bullets and £2,000 in cash.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
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