r/news • u/CharlieKonR • 16h ago
Norwegian teenage hitman hired for UK murder by Iran-backed crime gang jailed for 20 years | Crime
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/16/norwegian-teenager-hired-hitman-iranian-gang-jailed-20-years215
u/CharlieKonR 16h ago edited 15h ago
“He (the teenage hitman from Norway) travelled to the UK in March last year from his home in Stavanger, and two days later – before he could carry out the hit – armed police arrested him at a hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.”
”Officers found him in possession of a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, 12 rounds of live ammunition and gloves.”
“Natland admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition and said he had intended to shoot himself in the foot to get out of the “pickle” he was in.”
Love his cover story.
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u/RhoOfFeh 15h ago
Pickle? I think he was in a can of surstromming.
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u/ApprehensiveStick7 14h ago
Norwegians don’t eat surstromming, so don’t put that on us. That’s the Swedes.
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u/HarryBridges 13h ago
How about saying “the kid had brunost for brains”? Would that qualify as an authentically Norwegian food related insult?
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u/No_Craft4676 11h ago
Ok that's hilarious but I love brunost
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u/Automaton_General 8h ago
I took Norwegian as my foreign language in college because I essentially had no choice
Brunost is so fire and honestly the pickled herring on the cracker surprised me, too
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u/CharlieKonR 15h ago
That’s what he said, but the police weren’t herring him right.
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u/AppliedPsionics9k 15h ago
Children are the vessels into which adults pour their poison.
-Salman Rushdie
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u/madMaulkin 14h ago
Good reference, wrong Scandinavia. That's the scandiwedens, he was a scandiwegian.
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u/judgyjudgersen 15h ago
>Natland flew into Manchester on a temporary passport and was stopped by Border Force officials, who bailed him to return to the airport to catch the next direct flight home.
Instead, he travelled by taxi to Huddersfield where he booked into the Briar Court hotel and picked up the guns and ammunition, as well as £2,000 in cash.
The fck? What kind of border control is this “we trust you bro”
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u/nonlawyer 15h ago
“And purpose of your travel?”
“Murder for hire.”
“Ah roighto… wait. That’s just not cricket mate, you’re gonna have to fly home. Promise?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Spiffing.”
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u/phantom-firion 13h ago
I’m reminded of a venture bros episode where a bunch of Assassins are sent in to kill a special forces body guard voiced by Patrick Warburton. Each assassin had a gimmick that resulted in them saying something different to passport control.
For instance a freaky German who is turned on by killing replies “ecstasy” when asked if he’s here for business or pleasure.
A fisherman themed Assassin when asked how long will he be staying responds with “till I land me a 250 pounder”
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u/No_Doubt_About_That 15h ago
My mind just went to this: https://youtu.be/_hlOEK6P5Lg?si=dYYxMI_p7ThTnELt
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u/abshay14 15h ago
Border control was probably asked to let him in by police to catch him more red handed. They have been tracking him before he even entered the country
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u/Denbt_Nationale 13h ago
Nope. The police only found out about him from the Norwegians after he was already in the UK.
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u/CharlieKonR 15h ago
Then why tell him to fly back? Why not just let him pass through?
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u/EC_CO 15h ago
My guess is that it created 'probable cause' because he was told to leave and came back through anyways. So while they may have had suspicions, it may not have been enough evidence to get a magistrate to issue a warrant, whereas him coming back through illegally means they didn't need the judicial warrant
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u/Ninevehenian 14h ago
To encourage him to do the right thing? To not behave differently than how they elsewise would? Because of his age and temporary passport, travelling solo and without family or a legitimate job?
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u/Feisty-Driver-1263 15h ago
What does "bailed him to return" mean
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u/orange_sewer_grating 14h ago
I'm guessing he was release on bail (just in case you don't know, bail is when you are released from police custody in return for paying money temporarily. You get the money back when you show back up when you're supposed to, but if you skip your court date then you forfeit the money. It's a way to avoid keeping people locked up but still incentivize them to follow their promise to come back).
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u/NorysStorys 14h ago
Bail doesn’t always have a monetary sum, sometimes it’s just stipulations on what you have to do. In this case they told him he has bail if he leaves the country and goes home. He then violated that immediately which gives them grounds to hold him and the finding of the weapons just more evidence for charging him.
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u/orange_sewer_grating 14h ago
Maybe that's a national difference then. In America "bail" is specifically the term for when there's money involved. Release conditions don't always have money, but that's the part we call "bail"
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u/Feisty-Driver-1263 14h ago
Ahh the British phrasing got me🤣 I thought maybe it was a typo and they "begged" him to return or something but that would be weird as hell!
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u/GlitchyMcGlitchFace 15h ago
The headline reads like a movie pitch.
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u/mrsbergstrom 15h ago
ruined his entire life and was willing to end a strangers life for 25,000 euros smdh, at least aim for 7 figures
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u/CharlieKonR 14h ago
“I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one."
- Rick Blaine to Ugate in Casablanca
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u/oshinbruce 13h ago
I know he was groomed and not the brightest, but being a hit man for €25k where the average retail salary is €35k, doesnt seem all that worth it..
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u/Curious-Hope-9544 13h ago
€25k is a lot of money for a one-day job, esp for a teenager. I know Norway has higher salaries (as well as a high cost of living) but aren't you conflating yearly and monthly wages here?
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u/Scutty__ 6h ago edited 6h ago
In a sense of the time it takes to complete the job maybe. But I imagine you're not going to get many hit man hirings per year. Like im no expert obviously but I imagine those jobs dont just grow on trees.
Then if you account for the potential jail sentence, I imagine they won't pay him now, but if he had completed the job for arguments sake and they paid him and he went to prison, hes basically doing 25 to life for less than a years minimum wage.
And even if youre not caught. Any finger prints, dna or evidence you leave behind are in the system forever that even 20 years from now may be one day linked to you
With that type of risk and scarcity, you gotta be an idiot to only take 20k
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u/Jernhesten 8h ago
They made sure he owned them money and said they would kill his family if he did not do their bidding.
This may have contributed to his willingness.
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u/Exciting_Policy8203 8h ago
Well it was probably his first hit ya know. He’s gotta start at the bottom and pull himself by his victims boot straps.
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u/Intelligent_Fish_541 9h ago
There was also a question of his mental stability. Not much room to take that into account in the current global judicial climate though.
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u/Baked4skin 9h ago
Damn imagine being lucky enough to be born in Norway and this is the path you chose.
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u/appleparkfive 2h ago
That's just not how life works. You think some rich people don't have mental issues or get depressed? They're not like "oh fuck dude I'm rich, what am I mad about!" and then just turn it around on a dime.
Being born in Norway definitely isn't a bad boon, I don't disagree there. But you get used to boons real fast in life.
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u/Goregoat69 14h ago
To think, if he’d turned round and went back to Norway he might have got huckled there instead (cos they were defo onto him before he even left, IMO) and he’d be in a lovely Norwegian jail instead of a UK one….
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 15h ago
Teenager, but also an adult. I know that 19 is technically a teenager, but I really dislike when the headlines say "teenager" when the person committing the crime is a legal adult.
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u/Arkie1927 9h ago
19 is still super young and technically a teenager. What’s to rage about here ?
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u/groovyinutah 10h ago
Norwegian teenage hitman....that definitely wasn't on the bingo card for today.
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u/MisterPistacchio 15h ago
"...was stopped by Border Force officials, who bailed him to return to the airport to catch the next direct flight home. Instead, he travelled by taxi to Huddersfield where he booked into the Briar Court hotel and picked up the guns and ammunition.."
I'm sorry what? Border officials stopped him and let him leave? What a dumb system.
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u/Dic_Penderyn 14h ago
Its quite obvious the police were onto him before he even entered the country. His fingerprints and DNA were taken at the airport (that is an automatic procedure for everyonr arrested in the UK). How do I know he was arrested at the airport - because he was released on bail. You can't be bailed if you are not under arrest.
He was then re-arrested very shortly afterwards by the police in his hotel after he had collected the firearm and ammo. Obviously the plan all along was to arrest him and also Agent 47. Somehow Agent 47 got away - probably beacause the firearm was not personally given by him to the Norwegian, but left in a place he could pick it up from.
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u/shivkaln 13h ago
It's fairly standard in many countries, fairly exceptional circumstances are needed to place someone under detention immediately
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u/Sirlacker 10h ago
I mean if you are DEPORTING someone and sending them back to their country on the next flight, doesn't sound to me like they should be allowed to roam around.
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u/MidnightSun77 14h ago
There’s a good video by OCG on YouTube on this. The guy was naive and stupid
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u/Goregoat69 14h ago
Great channel, makes you realise how interconnected the underworld is when the same groups and names keep popping up in loosely related vids.
He must have got some bump in material when the encrochat stuff happened, lol.
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u/2daytrending 15h ago
A 19 years old took €25k hit for Iran linked gang and got 20 years. Wild how close this crime to happening.
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u/Rebelgecko 14h ago
Kinda funny, a Danish guy who Iran was paying to assassinate someone in Germany just got sentenced to 8 years. So if you're gonna assassinate someone for the iranians and are worried about jail time, sign up for the Germany assassination instead.
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u/squirrel_exceptions 13h ago
The Iran linked thing is kinda shoehorned in there because it sounds sensational. Foxtrot is a Swedish crime gang, and at some point they were hired by the Iranians to do something, but that's not their usual business, and it's unlikely to have anything to do with this situation.
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u/SharkSurfLionRide 13h ago
Every detail matters. Its called reporting.
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u/squirrel_exceptions 12h ago
They put it in the headline, all while this all is very unlikely to have anything to do with Iran. To mention it somewhere in the body of the text is fine.
A lot of reporting is about prioritizing information, if you think every available detail is always included, I've got some news for you.
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u/RenoGuy25 15h ago
Based on border patrol just telling him he should head back to the airport instead of taking him there there's a good chance police were tracking this for awhile.
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u/RenoGuy25 15h ago
Kid looks like the type to have a full blown meltdown when his mom gets him the wrong color case for his Nintendo Switch and he thinks he's gonna be an international hitman 🤣🤣🤣
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u/squirrel_exceptions 13h ago
Guy with lots of psychological and drug issues apparently, unusually enough from an upper middle class family in a wealthy Norwegian town.
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u/_ShutUpLegs_ 13h ago
To be referred to as a hitman do you not at least need to have carried out one hit? No way this wet wipe has done shit.
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u/TheMarvelMan 2h ago
Natland had been controlled by an English-speaking boss called Agent 47, an apparent reference to the Hitman gaming and film franchise. The identity and whereabouts of Agent 47 remain unknown.
You can't make this shit up
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u/skandel 13h ago
20 years is not enough. Terrorists need to be isolated from society for life.
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u/RevolutionaryTrick17 12h ago
Weird part is he was hired by another teenager who was even younger than he is.
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13h ago
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u/HumanOptimusPrime 12h ago
That’s precisely the point of the Norwegian prison system, yes.
A guy named David Toska was the mastermind behind a high security cash depot robbery in 2006 which left a police officer killed. The biggest heist in Norwegian history.
Toska got sentenced to 19 years, serving the last couple of years at home, and released on probation after a total of 12. Since then he became a chess commentator for one the of largest TV channels in the country and is considered a functioning member of society.
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u/themightybamboozler 12h ago
No stop it, there is only room for anger and our punitive system must be a factory of misery and self perpetuating violence. /s
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u/lending_ear 12h ago
Except he’s not going to be going through the Norwegian prison system that works towards rehabilitation. He’s in the UK. That’s not part of it.
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u/mjs1n15 11h ago
Doesn’t that suggest the larger issue is the UK prison system, rather than this guy not getting long enough?
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u/TheXraySpecs 11h ago
Sure, and if you extrapolate long enough then you’ll come to the conclusion that humans are the largest issue.
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u/mjs1n15 11h ago
I’m not digging into 50 layers of cause and effect here. 1st person said 20 years isn’t long enough because he’ll come out the same. 2nd described how the rehabilitation approach in Norway actually can make law abiding productive people out of criminals, 3rd pointed out this guy is going to the British prison system where that’s not the approach, ergo the comment about 20 years not being enough stands.
My point was that he’ll still get out in 30, or 40, or however long, and if the system doesn’t encourage or facilitate change he’ll still be a problem then. So either keep these guys in jail for most of their lives, or work on helping and changing their behaviour. The latter actually tries to address the problem.
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u/DunkeyColdMedina 12h ago
Being an American looking at stable European cultures sometimes feels like being a child that can't afford a toy with their face pressed up to the glass looking at the Macys Christmas display on west 34th street.
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u/Mikelitoris88 1h ago
But as you can see from the picture, he's not a terrorist. He looks like a hitman
/s
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u/SnakeGD09 13h ago
In some countries, many in fact, terrorists become the government. So your claim is not very rational. Israel, for example—Likud merged with Irgun, and several PMs had fought in Irgun, even having assassinated British officials. GWOT has convinced Anglos that terrorists are a real class, but it is just a name for non-state actors who fight asymmetrically. The goal of the term is to permit the killing of the members of these groups without any moral concern.
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u/druidmain69420 11h ago
Thats downplaying the actual history and victims of terroristic behavior.
Terrorists are combatants that primarily target non-combatants (ie civilian population centers). It has nothing to do with asymmetric warfare.
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u/PracticalMushroom693 12h ago
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter
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u/Worldly-Ingenuity843 3h ago
And what freedom is Foxtrot (the Swedish gang who hired this kid) fighting for? The freedom to sell nacrotics?
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u/sceadwian 10h ago
A terrorist today is a freedom fighter tomorrow.
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u/Worldly-Ingenuity843 3h ago
The people who hired him were just regular criminals, not freedom fighters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxtrot_(criminal_network)
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u/tooskinttogotocuba 15h ago
Teenagers really can be bloody useless (source: was one); thankfully so in this case
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u/Aerodrive160 15h ago edited 14h ago
Glad they felt the need to emphasize that it was “live” ammunition.
Feels like the European need to clarify there was no possibility of any Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes type shenanigans afoot.
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u/JimHeckdiver 4h ago
That's actually a pretty impressive sentence for the UK. Especially since he didn't actually kill anyone. Good on that judge!
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u/onlyforsellingthisPC 8m ago
" While in the hotel, Natland took selfies with the guns and cash spread out on his bed, and bragged to his girlfriend that he had the “bangs in the bag”. Armed police arrived to arrest him at 5.15am the next day."
All around awful but that did get a little chuckle out of me.
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u/tissue4yuo 14h ago
Sounds like a fall guy, that helped a gang avoid punishment for their other crimes. Gets 20 years and the real criminals don’t serve a day. Pretty standard practices.
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u/M1ntyMango 8h ago
Glad he was caught in the UK and not Norway. Norway would've given him 2 years tops.
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u/Wise-Reflection-7400 14h ago
Honestly the bigger part of this story should be that Border Force told him to go home and he was like "nah I think I'll stay, I have a hit to carry out" and the Border Force didn't actually bother forcing him to leave. What a joke
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u/WentThisWayInsteadOf 12h ago
Do we not support the same thing happening in Iran, when we cheer on Israel using hit men to kill people they do not like?
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u/David905 15h ago
I'm curious if there really was a gang that hired him to do this hit and the police just happened to catch on to it, or if the entire thing was a setup from the start.
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u/squirrel_exceptions 13h ago
Apparently Norwegian police arrested some other gang member in Norway and found the messages ordering this hit on his phone, so they alerted the British.
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u/questiiionableperson 15h ago
The potential victim is lucky that this kid is basically braindead, good riddance.