“I'm going to embark on a crazy mission…”
This was the brief message that Johannes Natland, a 19-year-old Norwegian, sent to his girlfriend before traveling to the United Kingdom.
On March 19, 2025, Natland was arrested at a hotel in the northern English city of Huddersfield in possession of two firearms, 19 rounds of ammunition and £2,000 (about $2,680) in banknotes.
This week, a British court found him guilty of conspiracy to murder on the orders of a Swedish criminal gang linked to Iran.
The Swedish organized crime gang is known as the Foxtrot Network, and British prosecutors claim it sent Natland to Britain to carry out a “murder for hire.”
Foxtrot is an extremely violent group, already known for using teenagers as hitmen, a phenomenon that Europol, the European Union's police agency, has called “violence as a service” (VaaS).
It is still unclear who Natland had been hired to assassinate in the UK.
But how did a young man passionate about football become involved with the criminal group that hired him to murder? How do Foxtrot and its leader, Rawa Majid, use teenagers and young people in various European countries for their own purposes? What is Foxtrot's connection to the Iranian government?
What is known about the violent criminal gang Foxtrot?
In its statement, the United States alleged that Foxtrot and Majid “cooperate with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.”
A month later, the United Kingdom sanctioned the network and its leader for their role in attacks against targets across Europe and to counter the domestic threat posed by the Iranian government.
Last year, Swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Expressen, citing documents and information they said had been provided to them by Mossad, Israel's intelligence and special operations service, alleged in detailed reports that Majid “works for the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The group's name first received widespread media attention in 2023. In mid-June of that year, a thunderous explosion, heard up to 20 km away, shook the Swedish city of Uppsala.
The explosion was so strong that it damaged five nearby houses. A young woman, who police said was probably not the target of the attack, died in the explosion.
That same year, reports emerged of a series of armed and bloody clashes on the outskirts of Stockholm. The clashes caused several deaths, mostly teenagers, and unleashed widespread fear in the country.
On the last day of January 2024, an employee of the Israeli embassy discovered a device, suspected to be an explosive, inside the embassy compound in Stockholm. The bomb disposal unit of the Swedish National Police was deployed to the scene and, after removing the device, announced that it had been detonated in a controlled explosion.
The Israeli ambassador described the incident as an “attempted terrorist attack.”
Two Swedish violent criminal groups, Foxtrot and Rumba, were mentioned in connection with these events, and the Islamic Republic of Iran was accused by the governments of Sweden, the United States and Israel of having “cooperated with them.”
On May 30, 2024, the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) gave an unusual press conference in which it accused the Iranian government of “carrying out illegal and violent acts in Sweden and other countries through a network of criminals.”
Daniel Stenling, head of the Swedish Security Service, stated at a press conference: “Although the targets attacked by these criminal gangs are mainly groups and political opponents of the Iranian government, they also target representatives of countries such as Israel, as well as Jewish organizations and institutions.”
The Netherlands has also leveled similar accusations against Iran. Following the assassination of the leaders of two groups opposed to the Iranian regime in Dutch territory in 2015 and 2017, the AIVD, the Dutch intelligence and security service, accused Iran of “hiring Dutch criminal groups” to carry out these assassinations.
Last year, the UK Foreign Office also announced that Iran was “using networks of violent criminal groups in an attempt to carry out violence against political opponents”.
The Swedish Security Service, which had previously identified China and Russia as the biggest threats to the country's security, has now added Iran to the list.
According to the Swedish Security Service, “Iran has already used violence in other European countries with the aim of silencing critics and countering perceived threats to its regime.”
Säpo has claimed that in recent years it has “prevented the execution of several specific assassination plots linked to the Iranian security services and criminal networks” in Sweden.
Iran has strongly denied these allegations and accuses Sweden of following “false information provided by Israel.”
The “Kurdish Fox”
The leader of Foxtrot is believed to be Rawa Majid, known as the “Kurdish Fox.” Swedish media claim that his family comes from Iraqi Kurdistan and that he was born in Iran. Shortly after, his family moved to Sweden and he grew up in Uppsala.
Majid is wanted by Interpol, the international police organization, for a series of accusations including “drug trafficking, murder and complicity in murder, acts of violence, use of weapons” and other crimes.
Majid is believed to have left Sweden several years ago to avoid arrest. His current whereabouts are uncertain, although in October 2023, Swedish television claimed that he had been arrested by Iran while attempting to enter the country illegally through Turkey.
Swedish police have issued several arrest warrants for Majid in absentia. The most recent dates back to September 2023, when an order was issued following the discovery and seizure of an 800 kg shipment of amphetamines, cocaine and hashish.
According to Swedish media, Majid has Iraqi and Turkish citizenship, in addition to Swedish. When Sweden requested his extradition, Türkiye refused due to his Turkish nationality. At the time, Majid was allegedly trying to flee to Iran.
Based on Mossad documents, Dagens Nyheter states that “when Rawa Majid was arrested in Iran, he was forced to choose between prison and cooperating with the Islamic Republic.”
In October 2023, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told the SVT news agency that he “had unconfirmed information indicating that Majid had been arrested in Iran,” but did not provide further details.
According to information that Swedish newspaper Expressen said was provided to him by the Mossad, “Rawa Majid remotely directs his associates in Sweden to carry out terrorist acts against Israeli and Jewish targets.”
Before fleeing Sweden, Majid had been arrested several times on suspicion of murder, shootings and drug trafficking.
According to a report from the Swedish Security Service, the “Kurdish Fox” has run the Foxtrot gang remotely since 2018, with most of his criminal activities taking place when he was not present in Sweden.
In addition to the “Kurdish Fox” and his band Foxtrot, the rival gang ‘Rumba’, and its leader, Ismail Abdo, have also been accused of cooperating with Iran.
According to Swedish media, Abdo was a friend and partner of Rawa Majid, with whom he broke off relations after serious disagreements.
Disputes and rivalry between the two criminal gangs reached a fever pitch in 2023, leading to a series of violent incidents – including bomb attacks, murders and bloody clashes – in Stockholm and surrounding cities, leaving dozens dead.
