A jury at London’s Old Bailey convicted Norwegian teenager Johannes Natland of conspiracy to commit murder in West Yorkshire.
Natland was arrested at a Huddersfield hotel while in possession of a weapon, before authorities said he had been told who the intended victim was.
Counterterrorism investigators are still examining whether the planned attack was an ordinary criminal killing or a politically motivated operation linked to Iran.
Europol’s Operational Taskforce GRIMM says young people are recruited through social media and given game-like instructions to carry out violence.
Europol official Andy Kraag described the practice as the deliberate outsourcing of killings to vulnerable young people.
The task force brings together Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Police have made more than 280 arrests in the 15 months since the task force was formed, including several key suspects.
The UK government sanctioned the Foxtrot network and its leader, Rawa Majid, in April 2025.
Swedish police allege that Ali Shehad Ahmed, who was detained in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, is the Foxtrot operative known as Agent 47; a Swedish extradition request is under consideration.
A teenager identified by the alias Generalen was convicted in May and received a 14-year prison sentence after investigators found material related to the Huddersfield conspiracy on the teen’s phone.
Police suspect that some attacks linked to Foxtrot were conducted for Iranian authorities, including a grenade attack on Israel’s embassy in Copenhagen.
Police also assess that some other attacks were connected to disputes over control of drug-trafficking areas.
Journalist Diamant Salihu alleges that the network began working for Iranian authorities after Majid moved to Tehran in late 2023.