In the U.K., a single online post reading “murder for money” is drawing teenagers across borders into contract killing operations. So-called “Violence-as-a-Service,” in which juveniles recruited through social media are handed guns and dispatched to commit murder, is spreading across Europe, putting investigators on high alert.
According to BBC and CBS News on the 2nd, the Swedish criminal organization Foxtrot Network is expanding its influence by assigning contract killings and explosives attacks to teenagers through social media services such as Snapchat, Telegram and Signal. As such crimes spread across borders, the European Union’s police agency, Europol, has formed a dedicated investigation team involving 11 countries to respond.
Johannes Kongsnes Naetland, a 19-year-old Norwegian national arrested in the U.K. last year, is a representative example of this method. After receiving an offer on social media that read “murder in the U.K., payment of 270,000 kroner (about 35 million won),” he accepted the crime, obtained an emergency passport and entered the U.K. in March 2025. Investigations revealed that an organization member using the username “Agent 47” arranged the flight and lodging and directed the crime.
Naetland stayed at a hotel and, after receiving messages containing maps, photos and videos, retrieved a pistol and ammunition from a bag hidden in a forest. He sent a photo of the gun to his girlfriend along with messages saying “I’m going to do a crazy mission” and “something will happen soon.” When a friend asked whether he had tested the gun, he replied, “No, I’ll test it on that person.” Police arrested him at the hotel a day before the crime, and a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and live rounds were found in a plastic bag under the bed. A British court recently found him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, with sentencing scheduled for this October.
Investigators believe that Foxtrot promises teenagers large sums of money, but the money is rarely actually paid. This is because many are caught by police before or after committing the crime. In fact, in February 2024, near Stockholm, Sweden, Attila Azimov, then 18, attempted a contract killing but mistook the target and shot and killed a university student he had never met.
Foxtrot is also known for not merely directing crimes but designing missions to be carried out like a game. It sends maps and videos so recruits can locate guns and cash hidden in forests themselves and delivers step-by-step instructions. Andy Kraag, an official at the European Serious and Organised Crime Centre, described this as “a calculated outsourcing of murder to vulnerable young people.”
Foxtrot is a Swedish criminal organization engaged in drug trafficking and violent crime. Along with its leader Rawa Majid, it is on the sanctions lists of the U.S. and the U.K. on charges of participating in attacks targeting Israeli and Jewish-related facilities in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime. According to British prosecutors, the organization is suspected of being involved in at least 35 murders and explosives attacks targeting Israel-related facilities since 2022.
Europol has arrested more than 280 suspects, including key members, over the past 15 months, but is concerned that “juvenile contract killing” could spread across Europe as rival criminal organizations copy the method. British prosecutors warned that the case “shows the reality of organized crime networks operating across borders and using young people to commit serious crimes.”
