'My son said he was off to play football... then police arrived at my door to say he was a HITMAN who'd been arrested in a Huddersfield hotel room with a gun and £2,000 cash': Middle-class mother tells of every parent's social media worst nightmare

By MILES DILWORTH IN STAVANGER, NORWAY Published: 00:01, 4 August 2026 | Updated: 00:01, 4 August 2026 Johannes Natland waved goodbye to his mother as he left his large family home in Stavanger, south-west Norway, on March 17 last year. He told her he was playing football and would be back that evening. He wasn't. At 6am the following day, he sent his mother, Ellen Kongsnes, a text: 'Away for a few days. With a friend. Love you.' As the days passed and her anxiety grew, Ellen begged him to come home, trying to lure him back with promises of dinner. Then, four days after her son's disappearance, three police officers came to her door. Johannes – who had just turned 18 and had never travelled abroad alone before – had been arrested in England. Police had found him in a hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with two guns, 12 rounds of live ammunition and £2,000 in cash. Johannes Natland (right) waved goodbye to his mother, Ellen Kongsnes (left), as he left his large family home in Stavanger, south-west Norway, on March 17 last year. Pictured: The pair on a family trip to the Bernabeu, the stadium of Real Madrid, Johannes's favourite football team Four days after her son's disappearance, three police officers came to her door. Johannes, who had just turned 18 and never travelled abroad alone before, had been arrested in England Ellen fell to the floor. 'I couldn't believe it,' she told the Daily Mail. 'I kept repeating to them: "In Britain? Are you sure?"' He had travelled from Stavanger to kill, the officers said. Ellen fell to the floor. 'I couldn't believe it,' she told the Daily Mail. 'I kept repeating to them: "In Britain? Are you sure?"' But this was only the half of it. Over the course of a two-week trial at the Old Bailey, it emerged that Johannes had been recruited online by a notorious Swedish criminal gang to carry out a hit in return for £21,000. He had been in regular contact with a senior member of the Foxtrot Network – a violent organised crime group that has struck a deal with Iran to target the state's enemies abroad. Last Wednesday, he was convicted of conspiracy to murder. Ellen, herself an experienced journalist, sat in the public gallery throughout the trial, occasionally blowing kisses to her son in the dock below. It is likely she will never come to terms with how her darling son – a bright student, talented footballer and aspiring lawyer – became embroiled in a plot to kill someone in Britain on behalf of international gangsters. But, in an interview with the Daily Mail before the trial, Ellen issued a chilling warning. In the age of social media, where ruthless criminals prey on teenagers in the darkest corners of the internet, no child is safe. 'It could happen to anyone,' she said. Johannes, now 19, was afforded all the advantages of a loving, middle-class upbringing. He is the youngest of three siblings. His father is also a journalist. The family would frequently enjoy holidays together. Ellen shared one photograph of her son eating dinner in a chalet at a mountain resort in Norway, where the family spent many winters skiing. Another picture shows her and Johannes at the Bernabeu, the stadium of Real Madrid, his favourite football team. Back home in Stavanger, their surroundings could hardly have been more genteel. The town's population of around 150,000 people has reaped the rewards of North Sea oil. High-end boutiques, cafes and restaurants tumble down its slopes to the shores of its fjord. It is one of the richest conurbations in one of the wealthiest countries in Europe – and is barely touched by crime. The Daily Mail met Ellen at one of several upmarket hotels that surround the port, where luxury cruises dock for a night or two. She described a loving family environment, raising Johannes as 'a very bright boy' who was 'on top of the world'. 'He was the class clown,' she said. 'But not from insecurity. It was more: "I love the world, I feel so confident. I am always surrounded by my sister and brother and all their friends loving me because I am the cute little brother."' But Johannes struggled with his mental health during the pandemic and dropped out of school. Ellen mentioned his use of cannabis to self-medicate. But not that he graduated to ecstasy, LSD, cocaine and heroin – details that emerged in court. Aged 17, Johannes became convinced his parents were trying to kill him so locked himself in his brother's bedroom with a kitchen knife. He spent time in and out of a psychiatric unit and a children's care home. It emerged that Johannes (pictured, on a family holiday in Norway) had been recruited online by a Swedish criminal gang called the Foxtrot Network to carry out a hit in return for £21,000 Ellen admits Johannes 'came in the blind zone'. He was a football fanatic, playing six times a week, but sport did not interest the rest of the family. His elder brother was a boy scout – and both he and his sister were sitting exams at the time. 'Our focus was there,' she said. 'If I could rewind to that time, I would have been there for him more. We blame ourselves for not being able to save him.' Johannes had been out of the psychiatric unit for six weeks – and deemed to be 'in recovery' – when he received a sinister message from another teenage boy he had met in the care home. It made reference to a 'japping' – Swedish slang for murder – in England for a bounty of 270,000 Norwegian Kroner (£21,000). The message said the 'assassin' would be smuggled out of the country, adding: 'Nothing can go wrong.' Minutes later, Johannes was added to a group chat with a Stavanger-based recruiter called 'Generalen' and a senior Foxtrot recruiter known as 'Agent 47' – a name taken from the video game Hitman. On March 17, Johannes flew to Manchester with an emergency passport. He had just £40 in cash, a mobile phone and a small bag of clothes. He later took a taxi to Huddersfield, where he was directed to a wood in which the guns, ammunition and cash were stashed. But by this time, the authorities were on to him. On March 15, Norwegian police intercepted a message in which Generalen discussed a 'mission in Europe'. Generalen was arrested at Oslo airport two days later in connection with another plot. At around the same time, a teacher and classmate of Johannes both contacted police after he told friends outside a house party he was involved with 'the Foxes', an apparent reference to the criminal Foxtrot network.  'I am going to get a lot of money, someone is going to die,' he had boasted. Late on March 18, Norwegian investigators traced Johannes to Huddersfield.  At 5.15am the next day, armed police arrested him. Ellen recalls frantically messaging him throughout this time. 'I thought he would be in Stavanger,' she said. 'I repeatedly called, left messages, everything. "Please come home, dinner, football, love you", all that stuff. We filed a missing persons report.'  She said news of his arrest was 'completely incomprehensible'. Johannes admitted possession of the firearms but denied conspiracy to murder.  He told the jury at the Old Bailey that he planned to sabotage the mission by literally shooting himself in the foot. His mother believes he would never have gone through with the murder.  'I know Johannes better than anyone,' she told the Daily Mail. 'He could never harm anyone, he wouldn't have been able to do it. He has never seen a weapon before in his life.' Ellen insists her son is a victim of human trafficking. 'I think there's definitely an aspect of intimidation, grooming and trafficking of small, vulnerable young boys,' she said. Foxtrot is led by Swedish-Iraqi national Rawa Majid, 39, known as 'the Kurdish Fox', and dominates the Scandinavian drug trade. But bloody infighting in 2023 forced Majid to flee to Iran.  Here, he is said to have cut a deal with the regime to attack its enemies in return for protection. Since then, Foxtrot has been linked to attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets across Europe. Agent 47 – whose real name is Ali Shehab, 22 – is said to be a 'close ally' of Majid and one of Foxtrot's most important recruiters. It was he who was sending Johannes instructions on how to carry out the hit. Foxtrot is led by Swedish-Iraqi national Rawa Majid (left), 39. A senior Foxtrot recruiter, known as 'Agent 47' – whose real name is Ali Shehab (right), 22 – was who sent Johannes instructions on how to carry out the hit Foxtrot has exploited the rise of 'crime as a service', in which children as young as 13 are paid to carry out criminal acts. Assignments, which include arson, murder and bombings, are advertised in online chat groups in a bid to recruit volunteers who cannot be connected to the offence. The largest group, which has since been closed by Telegram, was the Samurai Kids and had 10,000 to 11,000 members. Foxtrot has also made a habit of targeting vulnerable youngsters languishing in state institutions, just like Johannes. Johannes was one of three teenagers from Stavanger involved in the Huddersfield plot.  Incredibly, 'Generalen' the senior local recruiter, was even younger.  The 17-year-old was convicted in Norway shortly before Johannes's trial began of multiple offences including orchestrating two murders in Sweden and accessory to murder in Huddersfield. There is no doubt that Johannes was at the bottom of the food chain. But he appeared to dive into his mission with relish. The jury was shown text messages that revealed he had boasted of his mission to his friends and then girlfriend, Sara Solbi, 19. Ms Solbi, who appeared as a witness for the prosecution, said Johannes had told her: 'Now I can finally kill someone and it's perfect. I get money to do it.' After collecting the weapons, he sent her a picture of himself smiling while holding a pistol, with the message: 'Soon it will happen.' The Daily Mail can also reveal today that he admitted to strangling Ms Solbi. A prison call read out in court from Johannes to Ms Solbi recorded him saying: 'I strangled you a bit. I did that, yes. I will tell them this when I get home, "I strangled her, sorry." I never hit you, OK?' But Ms Solbi replied: 'You f***ing hit me. You hit me. You bloody kicked me down the stairs. You bloody strangled me. You smashed my phone. I have bloody bruises - had, I mean - the police took photos.' The Natland family has spent almost £100,000 visiting Johannes in Thameside and Belmarsh prisons in south-east London – and have taken out loans to finance their trips to England. Ellen hopes that her son can be transferred back to his homeland to serve his sentence. 'The [prison] conditions [in the UK] are very different from in Norway,' she said.  'Johannes keeps his head down and has spent a lot of time saying, "I'm Norwegian," so not a part of any of the [English] gangs.' But we have talked about the risk of being seen as the young, rich Norwegian. 'He didn't believe he would survive a year in prison. I don't think he would have if we hadn't been there every other week.' Johannes is 'scared to death' of a potentially lengthy sentence, Ellen said.  She fears it could be longer than the one handed to Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011 and was jailed for 21 years – the maximum fixed penalty under Norwegian law, although this can be extended indefinitely if he remains a danger to society. 'Johannes is treated more like an animal already,' she said. 'It is crazy.' Following his conviction, Ellen remained steadfast in her support of her son.  'All of us are crushed,' she told the Mail. 'Our son is not a violent person, he has no criminal record, he has never harmed anyone and would never do so. 'He was suffering from mental illness when he came into contact with the wrong people.  'We will all stand by him as long as it takes. We love him and will always do.'