Foxtrot Network Teen Hitman Jailed for Life Over Stockholm Murder

On a cold February night in a Stockholm suburb, an 18-year-old gunman named Atilla Azimov emerged from the winter darkness carrying a handgun. He approached 20-year-old Murad Abdelkader, a student walking home from his shift at McDonald’s, and opened fire repeatedly. Azimov fired the final shot into his victim’s head as Abdelkader lay helpless on the ground. According to Swedish Police cited in reporting, Azimov had targeted the wrong man and was subsequently jailed for life for the mistaken killing.

Azimov carried out the attack for money on behalf of the Foxtrot Network, an organized crime group notorious for its violence-as-a-service tactics. Since 2022, the network is believed to be responsible for approximately 35 murders alongside a series of attacks and attempted attacks against Israeli targets across Europe, including two incidents involving explosives and hand grenades. While the gang recruits teenagers with promises of cash, Europol notes that perpetrators are rarely paid because they are almost always caught.

Calculated Outsourcing Through Gamified Social Media Recruitment

Law enforcement agencies have organized a dedicated Europol group known as Operational Taskforce GRIMM to combat the rising tide of teenage contract killers. According to OTF GRIMM, syndicates recruit vulnerable young people on social media platforms, issuing instructions in a gamified style that mimics computer games. Andy Kraag, head of Europol’s European Serious and Organised Crime Centre, describes the phenomenon as the calculated outsourcing of murder to young and vulnerable operatives.

The international scope of the taskforce reflects the broad geographic reach of the threat. OTF GRIMM currently unites 11 affected countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Investigators say the syndicate’s operations blend domestic drug turf wars with state-linked assignments, particularly following the relocation of Foxtrot leader Rawa Majid.

From Tehran Safe Haven to British Conspiracies

After fleeing Sweden and a subsequent base in Turkey, Foxtrot leader Rawa Majid established his operations in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Investigative journalist Diamant Salihu of the Swedish broadcaster SVT, who has spent three years researching the network and its Iranian connections, explains that the regime directs Majid’s network to target opponents abroad. The regime is ordering the leader of the Foxtrot Network to instigate his network to commit attacks against the Iranian regime’s enemies, Salihu said, noting that targets include dissidents, opposition journalists, and Israeli interests. Salihu reports that Majid secured his freedom to live in Iran after October 2023 under the condition that his network execute tasks for the regime. Both Majid and the Foxtrot Network faced sanctions from the UK government in April 2025.

The mechanics of this digital recruitment pipeline are laid bare in the case of Johannes Natland, a Norwegian teenager. The son of two journalists in Stavanger, Natland experienced a comfortable upbringing before drifting into drugs and developing psychosis, which led to stints in rehab and a children’s home. In that facility, he encountered another teenager using the online handle UnknownHustler.

Inside the Digital Logistics of Agent 47 and the Huddersfield Plot

The recruitment chain relied entirely on encrypted online messaging. UnknownHustler forwarded an online request reading Killing in England 270k—referencing 270,000 Norwegian kroner, equivalent to about £21,000—which originated from another teenager operating under the handle Generalen. Generalen, who was 16 at the time and had spent three years living in a children’s home, subsequently brought Natland into the conspiracy.

From there, Natland was handed over to a Foxtrot member using the username Agent 47, a moniker borrowed from the Hitman game franchise. Swedish police have identified Ali Shehad Ahmed, an associate of Foxtrot leader Majid, as the person behind the Agent 47 alias. Agent 47 booked Natland a one-way ticket to Manchester Airport, guided him through obtaining an emergency passport, and directed his movements via the Signal messaging app.

The handler passed Natland to a logistics operative known simply as 1. Treating the teenager like a player in a video game, operative 1 transmitted maps and videos pinpointing hidden firearms in a Huddersfield woodland, alongside another video revealing a cash stash buried in undergrowth near a foot tunnel. Once Natland settled into a Huddersfield hotel with his weapons, Agent 47 messaged him: We have much to do tomorrow. Police arrested Natland the following morning, and a jury at the Old Bailey in London convicted the Norwegian teenager of conspiracy to murder.