The criminal case against the Norwegian 19-year-old whom police believe allowed himself to be recruited as a contract killer for Foxtrot is underway in London. Previously unknown information about the preparations is among the details that have been presented to the court.

At 05:15 in the morning on 19 March 2025, a British specialist police unit stormed a hotel room in Huddersfield, England.

In the room was an ethnic Norwegian from Stavanger who had only very recently turned 18. His identity is known, but Document has chosen not to identify him.

In court yesterday, it was explained how the Norwegian aimed in front of himself with his hands shaped like a weapon and simulated pulling the trigger at one of the police officers as the hotel room door was opened.

‘One could say that in itself gives you some insight into what he was in the United Kingdom to do,’ prosecutor Alistair Richardson said.

The pistol found in the Norwegian 19-year-old’s hotel room. The hand is said to belong to the Norwegian defendant. In the background is the grip of the almost antique revolver with which he had been equipped. According to police, the video was filmed by the Norwegian himself. (Photo: Private video still image/Met Police)

According to the Norwegian’s parents, both journalists in Stavanger, their previously unconvicted son had never before travelled on his own and had barely even taken the bus by himself.

They have stated in several interviews that he had twice been hospitalised with drug-induced psychosis. During a month-long stay at an institution operated by the Child Welfare Services (barnevernet) last year, he was put in contact with a 17-year-old with close ties to Foxtrot.

On the first day of the trial, a psychiatric report concerning the Norwegian, who faces 45 years’ imprisonment, was presented.

Nine People Involved

A total of eight other young people from the Stavanger region are implicated, in addition to the journalist’s son in England. According to Kripos, this is the first time Norwegian police have arrested Norwegian youths acting on behalf of a Swedish criminal network. It was Norwegian police who alerted their British colleagues.

A 17-year-old organiser with the nickname ‘The General’, who came into contact with Foxtrot at the age of 13 and who, by his own account, had ambitions of becoming a leading gang criminal in Europe, was central to the recruitment of the journalist’s son.

A few days ago, he was sentenced to 14 years of preventive detention for complicity in two gang murders in Sweden, three attempted murders, multiple aggravated rapes of children under the age of 14, and violence and threats against prison staff. He is appealing the judgment. The case ran in the district court for almost two months.

At the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, prosecutor Richardson explained that ‘The General’ was arrested precisely as the Stavanger man was setting out on his journey to England.

He received the news and was aware that the charge concerned conspiracy to murder, but according to Richardson deliberately chose not to withdraw from the assignment.

The journalist’s son’s task was, according to the indictment, to shoot and kill a person in exchange for payment of 25,000 euros. British police have, however, not identified who the target was or who supplied him with weapons, cash, and a stolen getaway car.

The Stavanger man was apprehended with two handguns, 17 rounds of ammunition, and £2,000 in cash in the hotel room. Some media outlets report that there were only 12 rounds.

According to the British press, the prosecutor emphasised that the Foxtrot network is supported by Iran and carries out assignments for the Iranian regime.

‘Brother, Find a Contract Killer’

Text messages presented in court show how the recruitment took place and how the organisers arranged travel, accommodation, and weapons in England.

‘The General’, who also uses the codename ‘Junger’, reportedly described Stavanger as a ‘warrior city’.

There, gang members could allegedly recruit ‘contract killer after contract killer’.

Another individual, with the nickname ‘Agent 47’, after the main character in the Hitman video game, wrote the following:

Document does not know precisely how the wording appeared in Norwegian and therefore includes the messages as they were written by the prosecution.

‘Agent 47’ stated that there were 25,000 euros ‘in the pot’.

Swedish police believe that ‘Agent 47’ is identical to Foxtrot leader Ali Ahmed Shehab, who was arrested in Iraq in January this year following an international wanted notice.

When ‘Junger’ asked where the killing was to be carried out, the reply was:

Four days before the murder was to be carried out, the prosecution says that ‘Junger’ introduced the journalist’s son from Stavanger under the codename ‘the EU contract killer’ in a group on a messaging application.

That same evening, the newly recruited man wrote to his girlfriend that he was going on a ‘crazy mission’. According to the investigation, he replaced another individual who had withdrawn.

On 17 March, the then 18-year-old flew to Manchester with Norwegian.

Upon arrival, he was initially refused entry because of his age, the unclear purpose of the trip, and because he had only £40 in his wallet, but for unknown reasons he was granted entry for four days on bail.

‘An unexpected outcome,’ according to the prosecutor.

The explanation he gave was that he was going to visit someone he had met online through a computer game.

After spending one night in Manchester, he checked into the Briar Court Hotel in Huddersfield, 46 kilometres away.

The police operation against the armed Norwegian took place at this hotel during the night of 19 March last year. (Photo: Google Maps)

Following detailed instructions from an anonymous third party, the Norwegian collected two weapons and a bag of ammunition from a wooded area. In a subsequent message to his girlfriend, he wrote:

The Norwegian purchased three pairs of work gloves, which can be seen in a video presented in court. He has admitted involvement with illegal weapons but denies guilt in relation to conspiracy to murder.

What the prosecutor describes as a friend of the defendant exchanged messages with him on the evening before his arrest:

The exchange is being used by the prosecution as evidence that the Norwegian acted with intent.

According to Document’s previous coverage, the man’s parents have worked intensively to have the case transferred to Norway. So far, Kripos has been refused by the British authorities.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

From hitman to human trafficking victim?