Recruiting Teenage Killers via Social Media Like a Game: 'Contract Killings' Spreading Across Europe

Criminal syndicates in Europe are increasingly using social media to recruit teenagers for contract killings in a spreading wave of so-called "violence-as-a-service" crimes, the BBC reported on the 2nd, local time.

A prime example of such an organization is the Sweden-based criminal network "Foxtrot."

The group is estimated to have been involved in roughly 35 murders since 2022, as well as explosives and grenade attacks targeting Israeli-related facilities within Europe.

Foxtrot is reported to primarily lure teenagers with money to carry out murders and attacks.

However, because the teenagers carrying out the operations are frequently caught at the scenes, they reportedly almost never receive the promised funds.

In February of last year, outside of Stockholm, Sweden, 18-year-old Atilla Azimov shot and killed a university student.

Commissioned by Foxtrot, he undertook the crime but targeted the wrong person.

A similar case was uncovered in the United Kingdom, where Norwegian teenager Johannes Natland was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder at the Old Bailey in London last month.

He entered the UK to carry out a contract killing in Huddersfield, northern England, but was arrested just before executing the crime.

According to the investigation, Natland joined the plot after receiving an online message that read, "Murder in the UK, payment 270,000 kroner (approximately 40 million won)."

Subsequently, a Foxtrot member using the alias "Agent 47" helped him secure plane tickets and an emergency passport.

The organization treated it like a computer game, sending maps and videos to guide him in locating firearms and cash hidden in a forest.

Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, views this as a "gamified" criminal tactic.

Andy Kraag of Europol's European Serious and Organised Crime Centre defined it as "calculatingly outsourcing murder to vulnerable youth."

Rawa Majid, the leader of Foxtrot, is known to be staying in Tehran, the capital of Iran, after leaving Sweden and Turkey, where he was previously based.

His ties to the Iranian regime are understood to have begun after he fled to Tehran.

European investigative authorities believe that Foxtrot is not only being mobilized to attack Iranian dissidents, journalists, and Israeli-related targets, but is also involved in drug market turf wars.

To combat this issue, Europol has formed a special investigative team involving 11 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Over the 15 months since its creation, the special task force has arrested more than 280 people, including key suspects.

Among them is Ali Shehad Ahmed, believed to be "Agent 47," who is a close associate of the gang's leader.

He is currently detained in Iraq, and extradition procedures to Sweden are underway.

However, European law enforcement authorities express concern that rival organizations of Foxtrot are adopting the same tactics, spreading the threat of teenage contract killings across the entirety of Europe.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.