In a Stockholm suburb last February, an 18-year-old gunman dressed in black fired a handgun at a 20-year-old student, Murad Abdelkader, as he walked home from a shift at McDonald’s. The attacker shot repeatedly, finishing with a final bullet to the head. Police later identified the killer as Atilla Azimov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment after admitting he had targeted the wrong man. Investigators say the attack reflects a wider pattern across Europe in which organised crime groups recruit teenagers to carry out killings for payment, in a system authorities describe as “violence as a service”. Teenagers Recruited for killingsSince 2022, the Foxtrot Network is believed to have been behind around 35 murders, along with other attacks and attempted attacks on Israeli targets in Europe. Authorities say two of the incidents involved explosives and hand grenades. According to Europol’s Operational Taskforce (OTF) GRIMM, teenagers are recruited through social media and then given instructions in a “gamified” format, designed to imitate how computer games work. Andy Kraag, head of Europol’s European Serious and Organised Crime Centre, described the approach as the calculated outsourcing of murder to vulnerable young people. OTF GRIMM is currently operating across 11 countries affected by the VaaS model: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Europol and partner forces have linked the Foxtrot Network to Iranian connections. The gang’s leader, Rawa Majid, fled Sweden, later leaving a base in Turkey and relocating to Tehran. The UK government sanctioned Foxtrot and Majid in April 2025. Police believe some VaaS attacks have been carried out for the Iranian regime, including a hand grenade attack on the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, while others are linked to Foxtrot’s internal drug-related rivalries. The Natland case shows how it workedThe recruitment model is illustrated by the case of Johannes Natland, a Norwegian teenager convicted by a jury at London’s Old Bailey on Wednesday of conspiracy to murder. Swedish police said Natland had flown to carry out a Foxtrot hit near Huddersfield, in England, after being recruited online. Investigators said Natland met other teenagers in a children’s home in Stavanger, and a series of online contacts passed instructions and logistical support. One account, “UnknownHustler”, initially asked Natland to carry out the killing in England for a price equivalent to about £21,000. Another user, “Generalen”, later recruited him, and Natland was then handed on to a Foxtrot member using the username “Agent 47”, drawn from the Hitman game series. Swedish police have accused Ali Shehad Ahmed, close to Majid, of being Agent 47. Agent 47 booked Natland’s one-way travel to Manchester Airport and helped him obtain an emergency passport. Using the messaging app Signal, the contact guided Natland through his journey before handing him to a logistics figure described only by the username “1”. Investigators say “1” sent maps and videos showing where guns were hidden in woodland near Huddersfield, along with instructions on where to find cash hidden near a foot tunnel. Natland was then arrested the next morning. Police said he had not been told in advance who he was meant to kill, and investigators are still determining whether the plot was purely criminal or carried out for political purposes tied to Iran. Arrests, sanctions and an ongoing threatSwedish investigative journalist Diamant Salihu, who has reported on Foxtrot and its Iranian links for three years, said the network is ordered to attack targets described as enemies of the regime. He said those can include dissidents, journalists and Israeli targets. OTF GRIMM says arrests across the VaaS network have continued since it was set up 15 months ago, with more than 280 arrests made, including several key suspects. One of the most important was Ahmed, whom authorities think acted as Agent 47. He was detained in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq and is subject to an extradition request to Sweden. In May, Mohamed “Moewgli” Mohdhi, described by Swedish police as a “central actor” in Foxtrot, was arrested in Tunisia. Majid himself remains at large in Iran. Other groups are also reported to have adopted the model, including the Dalen Network, meaning the danger is still present even if some arrests have disrupted Foxtrot’s operations. Join the discussion? 2 August 2026
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