Teen Sentenced for Conspiracy to Murder

Face that, face that wall there.

Johannes Natland had raised finger guns at real

ones. But inside his hotel room was a

semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, and 12 rounds

of live ammunition, which he had filmed himself holding.

Natland was in Huddersfield following international

orders to kill. Today, this wannabe hitman,

who was barely a man at just 19-

Turn here

... was sentenced to 20 years.

For conspiracy to murder, the sentence is 20 years detention.

For the firearms offenses, taking the guideline, mitigation,

and guilty

pleas into account, I impose the following concurrent

sentences.

For possession of the prohibited semi-automatic pistol, five years

detention. For the possession of the prohibited

revolver, five

years detention. And for possession of the ammunition,

three years

detention.

Natland had landed at Manchester Airport from his hometown in Norway

on March 17 last year. The teenager had agreed to

carry out a paid hit for 25,000

euros.

His weapon was already waiting for him.

It had been hidden in this Yorkshire woodlands.

The teenager had been directed by a contact on Signal

called Agent 47, acting on behalf of the

Swedish organized crime group, the Foxtrot Network.

The group is subject to sanctions in both the US and UK, with a

pattern of youth recruitment.

A really successful business model of identifying, recruiting young

operators, uh, with very little previous history,

um, where the taskers and the Foxtrot Network can disassociate

themselves with those taskings, um, and

stand back around the culpability.

Um, and what we have seen is these young individuals, mostly men,

um, are then held to account and face really significant consequences.

The Norwegian documented his plan in videos recovered by police.

Hey, can you take a picture though?

This is his plot in pictures from his own social media

self-surveillance. The teenager was from a middle-class home,

but early drug use induced an episode that led him into

detention before his recruitment.

Natland's UK target was never identified, but the

conspiracy was.

Johannes Natland, at the heart of this case is a stark

fact.

You agreed to assassinate another human being, a

stranger to you in a foreign country.

You knew nothing of that person's life or circumstances.

You were just 18 years old when you placed yourself in

readiness to murder for money.

Natland's case is part of an alarming trend of teens deployed

across international lines by faceless handlers.

In their place are young recruits like Natland.

He had told his girlfriend about his crazy mission that has

ended with a minimum of 13 years behind bars.

A costly end for a failed selfie-taking self-styled

assassin.