The Natland case illustrates how the VaaS system works.
Natland is the son of two journalists in Stavanger and had a comfortable upbringing, but he drifted into drugs and developed psychosis, ending up spending time in rehab and a short period in a children’s home. There he met another teenager who used the online handle UnknownHustler.
It was UnknownHustler who first sent Natland the online request for someone to carry out a hit in the UK – “Killing in England 270k” (270,000 Norwegian kroner is about £21,000). It had come from another teenager with the handle Generalen. Generalen – who was 16 at the time and had spent the last three years living in a children’s home – subsequently recruited Natland for the hit.
Natland was then passed on to a Foxtrot member with the online username Agent 47, which is borrowed from the Hitman game franchise. Swedish police have accused Ali Shehad Ahmed, who is close to the Foxtrot leader Majid, of being Agent 47.
Agent 47 booked Natland’s one way ticket to Manchester Airport, and helped him through the process of getting an emergency passport. Using the messaging app Signal, he guided Natland at every stage of his journey before handing him on to a logistics man with the username “1”.
Treating Natland a bit like a character in a computer game, “1” sent him a map and videos showing him where to find the guns hidden in woodland in Huddersfield, and then another video showing him how to access a stash of cash hidden in the undergrowth near a foot tunnel.
Once Natland was installed in his Huddersfield hotel with the weapons, Agent 47 messaged him again: “We have much to do tomorrow.”
Natland was arrested the next morning. He had not yet been told who he was to kill, and counterterrorism detectives are still trying to work out whether it was to be a criminal hit or a political one carried out for Iran.
