Inside the online grooming of children as young as 12 into terrorism as baby-faced 'hitman' is locked up
Warning: This article contains descriptions of violence and abuse some readers may find distressing.
Children as young as 12 are being reeled into terrorism and a world of organised crime after being targeted online, LADbible can reveal.
Vulnerable youths are being targeted on gaming sites, social media and encrypted messaging services by big players in organised criminality with the tempting promise of large sums of money that are never actually paid.
Starting out with small tasks, predators effectively 'test' children online, typically young boys, before handpicking victims who they put up to cold-blooded murder or other state-threat or terror-related offences in the UK.
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The shocking revelations come after a babyfaced 'hitman', who was just 17 when he was first contacted and recruited to come to the UK to carry out a contracted hit on an unknown target, was finally locked up.
Johannes Natland had been promised the hefty sum of 25,000 euros and flew over to UK soil from Norway, viewing the task as a ‘crazy mission’ and taking shameless pictures and videos of himself with cash and guns before counter-terror police stopped the suspected Iran-backed plot.
Now, in an exclusive interview with LADbible, Counter Terrorism’s London Commander Helen Flanagan has spoken about the case in detail.
But in a shocking development, the senior officer explained how the case is far from unique, with younger children, often starting out as vulnerable victims and as young as 12, seen as ‘disposable’ assets and reeled into criminality by major gangs.
Young people, particularly teenagers, are increasingly targeted and groomed into terrorism and crime online through extremist ideologies. MI5 data shows that 13 percent of people investigated for terrorism in the UK are under 18.
It is a terrifying ‘business model’ that uses the naivety of young people who are chasing ‘notoriety’ and are willing to push their boundaries to get it.
"They don't know who's recruiting them"
“What we're seeing both within the crime world and within terrorism, counter-terrorism and counter-state threats, is the use of young people,” she explained during an interview at New Scotland Yard.
“Some of them are vulnerable, isolated, and perhaps have some neurodiverse issues, and are looking for notoriety.
“They perhaps don't have much link to the real world around [them], such as friendships and groups, and some vulnerabilities in their background, but that's not all.
“Individuals that are involved in this are particularly young men from as young as 12 and 13 up to 25 years old, who are being targeted online, quite often through gaming platforms but through other social networks too.
“They won't know who's recruiting them and they don't know who they're working for. There is probably no ideological motivation, but there is a financial motivation and probably that risk-taking and notoriety and wanting to do something different.
“What we know is this is a great business model for recruiters and individuals in the criminal and terrorism networks who don't want to get their hands dirty, who can disassociate from these individuals.
“These young people are disposable to them. So quite often they're offered payment, significant payment, but they don't get that.
“It’s a business model. The net will be cast really widely and they look at individuals perhaps isolated in home, online, and an awful lot and they will start to build up that relationship.
“It won’t start with a tasking into criminality, it will be a building of trust, a building of a relationship, having conversations, getting to know that individual and they will never meet, they perhaps will never even speak verbally, it will just be contact.”
Young people 'enticed' by promise of thousands
Criminals behind the schemes, one of which is the well known Iran-backed Foxtrot criminal network, will then slowly build relationships with young people by giving them small tasks to ‘see how far they can push them’.
But for those who don’t walk away, they are often blackmailed, promised large sums of money that never arrive, and trapped with ‘no way out’. Crimes are extreme and can include plotting murder.
“Many will drop away from that because they don't want to take the risk or have seen it as a bit of excitement and then understand the reality of it. But some won't due to mixed vulnerabilities or issues that mean that they're more susceptible to engaging in that,” Commander Flanagan told LADbible.
“With long term grooming relationships, quite often it will be small gifts, not just financial rewards, but then it builds up to it. And quite often the rewards are significant.
“You know, for an 18 year old to have 25,000 euros is a huge amount of money and really enticing.
"But as we've seen in lots of the cases that we've dealt with recently those individuals don't get any payment or they might get small payments and never get the full payment.
“We've seen people that have been blackmailed into continuing that behaviour and they feel that they've got no alternative and they've put themselves in a really difficult position.
“There is an element of being victims and being groomed into that position and then finding themselves with no way out.
"And then they're put under pressure to recruit others. And that's how that model works.
"People keep moving upwards and upwards because they find themselves in a really difficult position.”
Victims targeted on popular platforms as plea issued
Police confirmed to LADbible that various platforms are used to recruit young individuals. This includes gaming websites and encrypted chat platforms, as well as social media apps.
Although a social media ban on under 16s is coming into force next year, Counter Terror police urged parents to be vigilant, with support networks available.
Commander Flanagan continued: “We see encrypted platforms being used, so you look at gaming platforms like Discord, but a lot of contact is then made on Snapchat and then moved on to other platforms, like Signal and Telegram.
“It’s that kind of development of a relationship. They build trust with those individuals and they think they know them having never met them.
"Then suddenly they are influenced to go out and carry a crime. Some of it happens slowly over time, and some of it is really quick.
“I think it's that feeling of safety and security. Encrypted platforms are legitimate for people that want to be secure. But also it's a place to hide criminality.
“We see that across lots of different online spaces and online sort of criminal themes, whether that's online child sexual abuse, the targeting around violence or drugs, and also within terrorism and state threats.
“Those platforms are legitimate, but obviously a very good place to hide.
“My plea around this is that we are seeing younger and younger children being brought into this world online. There is a responsibility to know what your child is looking at.
“You wouldn't allow your child to go out and meet strangers in the park, would you? And that's exactly what they're doing online. We're opening up the door for strangers to come in and talk to your children, target them and influence them. So you need to be having open conversations with your children.”
“Obviously we've got the Online Safety Act and the social media ban coming in for under 16s next year, but those measures only go so far and it's really about having those conversations.
"If people are concerned about behaviours they can either report them into the police or the anti-terrorist hotline and we certainly can pick that up and provide support.”
Babyfaced 'hitman' flies to UK for assassination attempt
The shocking revelations come after a young man was jailed on Friday (16 October) having flown over to the UK from Norway to carry out a hit.
Aged just 17 when he was first contacted, Johannes Natland agreed to shoot an unknown target for 25,000 euros (£21,500) in March last year.
Two days after he arrived in the UK on a flight from his home in Stavanger, armed police arrested him at a hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and seized two guns and 12 live bullets.
Natland admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition but claimed he would have shot himself in the foot to get out of the 'pickle' he was in.
He was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to 20 years detention for the Iranian-backed plot.
The court heard how messages he sent showed ‘not only participation but at points excitement’ about what he was planning to do.
As is often the case, he had been recruited by another teenager referred to as 'Generalen' who was working for the proscribed Swedish Foxtrot gang.
The gang is backed by the Iranian regime and is known for deploying children as young as 13 in drug smuggling and violent crimes.
Counter-terror police became involved in the probe due to the apparent foreign threat to the UK, as they do in other similar cases.
Natland was controlled by an English-speaking boss called Agent 47, in an apparent reference to the Hitman gaming and film franchise.
Under Agent 47’s close direction, Natland took a flight from Stavanger to Manchester Airport on a temporary passport on March 17 last year.
He was stopped by Border Force officials in Manchester who bailed him to return to the airport to catch the next direct flight home.
Instead, he took a taxi to Huddersfield where he picked up £2,000 in cash, two guns and bullets and was directed to a stolen Nissan with false plates to be used in the killing.
From his room at the Briar Court Hotel, Natland bragged to his girlfriend he had the ‘bangs in the bag’ and took selfies with the guns and cash spread on his bed - but ultimately his girlfriend went on to give evidence against him.
At 5.15am the next day armed police banged on the teenager’s hotel room door to arrest him. A smiling Natland emerged wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and pretended to shoot one of the officers with his empty hands.
In a search of his room, police seized a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, 12 rounds of live ammunition, gloves and £2,000 in cash.
"Now I can finally kill someone and I get money to do it"
At his trial, one of Natland’s footballer friends recalled him talking about the ‘Swedish Foxes’ and telling him: “I’m going to get a lot of money and somebody is going to die.”
Natland had also confided in his girlfriend before leaving for the UK, saying in a message: “I’m going on crazy mission.”
According to her, he said: “Now I can finally kill someone and it’s perfect as I get money to do it. I can kill someone and life will be wonderful.”
Giving evidence, Natland said he wanted to look ‘cool’ to his peers but it was just ‘bravado’ and inside he was ‘terrified’.
Discussing the case in the interview with LADbible, Commander Flanagan explained: “He was 17 at the time of being recruited by the criminal network, the Foxtrot network in Norway.
“He was recruited online in his bedroom. By the time he'd just turned 18, he came over to the UK with a mission to assassinate an individual within the UK. And he was intent at carrying out that attack.
“He didn't know who he was working for, what the purpose was or who the individual he was going to murder.
“But he travelled over. And within a week of that task, he arrived in the UK and then picked up some firearms. And luckily we were able, with the support of other law enforcement and intelligence services, we were able to identify Natland in his hotel room and prevent him from carrying out that horrific attack.”
After being stopped by Border Force officers at Manchester Airport and bailed to return to Norway, Natland ignored those legal instructions and proceeded to travel to Huddersfield along with clear instructions and pictures of where weapons and money had been left for him.
“He was determined,” Flanagan explained. “He arrived into the UK and he was intercepted, spoken to by border officers and bailed but obviously then he was intent on carrying out this attack and so went to the hotel room and carried out the instructions he was given.
“In reality he absolutely understood, hence why he's been found guilty of conspiracy to murder. He picked up those firearms and he was carrying that attack through and the attack planning through.
“However, I think he did have a gaming mentality. That shows the vulnerability of young people, and how they're groomed online, and how they're pulled into this criminal activity.
“Some of the language he used - he talked about a crazy mission and some of the chats were references to gaming with Agent 47 who was the recruiter of Natland.
“There definitely was an element of gaming but it was a reality, and Natland clearly knew that he was involved in a serious criminal offence.”
Despite having supportive parents, his life went downhill after he became addicted to drugs and he was placed in rehab and a care home, the court was told.
Natland’s recruiter, just 17, was convicted in Norway of attempting to ‘contribute to murder’ in May last year. Police never found the intended victim.
Three more people have been charged by Norwegian police, with a decision yet to be taken by prosecutors whether to “indict” them.
In September 2025, a 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and has been released under investigation.
Two men, aged 30 and 27, were arrested in Bradford on May 20 on suspicion of handling stolen goods relating to a car. They were released on bail.
The identity and whereabouts of Agent 47 still remains unknown.
You can access UK counter-terrorism support, reporting tools, and advice by calling the anti-terrorism hotline on 0800 789 321, the ACT Early Support Line on 0800 011 3764 or by submitting information confidentially through the GOV.UK ACT Reporting Tool and Counter Terrorism Policing.
Topics: Crime, UK News, Social Media, Originals
James Holt