Norwegian teen arrested in UK with firearms in alleged Iran-linked assassination plot

A Norwegian teenager, Johannes Natland, 19, was arrested in a hotel in Huddersfield on March 19, 2025, with two working firearms and 12 rounds of live ammunition as part of an alleged plot to murder someone on behalf of a Swedish organized crime group linked to Iran, a UK court has heard.

Natland has pleaded guilty to 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 at the trial, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said Natland had been recruited by the Foxtrot network, a Swedish organized crime group used by the Iranian regime, under an agreement that he would be paid to "travel here and undertake a hit." Richardson told the jury: "We do not know who the defendant was planning to murder. He was prevented from committing murder when he was arrested inside a hotel room in Huddersfield."

The court heard messages in March 2025 between a user called 'Generalen' and an account called 'Agent 47' discussing an assassination. Agent 47 wrote: "Brother, sort an assassin abroad. Urgent. Europe." Agent 47 said there was €25,000 "in the pot." When Generalen asked about the location, Agent 47 replied: "Great Britain. As easy as can be."

By March 15, Generalen was messaging Natland, who then told his girlfriend he was "going on a crazy mission." The next day Agent 47 made a flight booking, but Natland's passport had expired. Two days later, Natland obtained an emergency passport and traveled to Stavanger Airport to board a flight to Manchester. During the journey, he was warned that Generalen had been arrested. "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 by UK Border Force because he had only £40 in cash, no accommodation booked and no return ticket. He said he was coming to visit friends he had been playing online games with. Officers wanted to call his mother, but he said he was 18. The officers refused Natland entry into the UK but allowed him temporary entry until a flight back to Norway four days later — a "surprising result," Richardson told the jury.

The next day Natland 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 him to a "hide" at the base of a tree in a wooded area where he picked up the guns and ammunition. The prosecution alleges 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.

That night, a friend messaged Natland: "Come on, u dun it?" Natland replied: "No tomorrow." When asked "Have you tested the weapons?" Natland responded: "Hell no. They will be tested on the guy," 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.