The international «Foxtrot» network recruited teenagers online to carry out contract killings and attacks in European countries, according to the BBC. Since 2022, the group has been linked to around 35 murders, as well as attacks and attempted attacks on targets associated with Israel. A joint task force of law enforcement agencies from 11 countries has already made more than 280 arrests.
Briefly about the main points
- «Foxtrot» recruited teenagers via social media and encrypted messaging apps.
- The network is believed to be linked to around 35 murders dating from 2022.
- Some of the attacks were directed at targets linked to Israel.
- A Europol task force has carried out more than 280 arrests.
- Foxtrot’s competitors are already adopting this recruitment model.
Crime as a «game» on a messaging app
According to the OTF GRIMM task force, the teenagers were recruited via social media, and their assignments were relayed via encrypted communication channels. The instructions were presented in a game-like format that mimicked the mechanics of computer games: the perpetrators were sent routes, videos and instructions regarding weapons or money.
Head of Europol’s European Centre for Combating Serious and Organised Crime Andy Kraag He described this practice as «calculated outsourcing of killings» targeting vulnerable young people. Recruiters offered substantial sums of money, but the perpetrators who were arrested often did not receive the promised payment.
Diamant Salihu, a journalist with the Swedish broadcaster SVT who investigated the network, said that recruiting increasingly younger teenagers was a deliberate policy: they were more likely to accept the risks and less concerned about the consequences of being detained.
A case of mistaken identity in Stockholm and a case in Britain
In February, 18-year-old Attila Azimov shot and killed a 20-year-old student in Stockholm Murada Abdelkader, who was on his way home after his shift at McDonald's. According to the police, Azimov acted on behalf of «Foxtrot» in exchange for money, but killed the wrong person. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Another example was the case of a Norwegian teenager Johannes Natland. He flew to Manchester for a planned murder near Huddersfield, received instructions via Signal and was arrested before he found out the target’s name. On Wednesday, the Old Bailey found him guilty of conspiracy to murder.
Natland, a recruiter known online as Generalen, was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment in May. His mobile phone helped the police uncover a plot to carry out an attack in the UK.
The Iranian connection and the spread of the model
Head of «Foxtrot» Rava Majid left Sweden, then Turkey, and is currently in Tehran. The police believe that the network carried out some of the attacks on behalf of the Iranian regime, specifically the hand-grenade attack on the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen. Other attacks are linked to a struggle for control of the drug market.
The United Kingdom imposed sanctions on «Foxtrot» and Majid in April 2025. Among the key figures arrested in connection with the case is Ali Shehad Ahmed, whom the Swedish police believe to be the likely user of the alias ‘Agent 47’; he was arrested in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and Sweden has requested his extradition.
In its first 15 months of operation, OTF GRIMM has carried out over 280 arrests. At the same time, the «violence-as-a-service» model is already being adopted by other criminal groups, notably «Foxtrot’s» rivals in the Dalen Network. This could complicate efforts to combat the scheme, as it has spread from Sweden across Scandinavia and northern Europe, reaching the UK.
