What began as a quiet evening in Bislett, a student district in central Oslo, turned into a scene of chaos when two 13-year-old boys hurled hand grenades at a nail salon — an act now traced to the notorious Foxtrot crime network, a Swedish gang expanding its operations into Norway.
The explosions shattered windows, sprayed shrapnel across nearby buildings, and triggered a citywide bomb alert.
The boys vanished into the night, completing what investigators say was their first mission for Foxtrot, one of Europe’s most violent criminal organizations.
Authorities describe Foxtrot as a sprawling syndicate linked to dozens of bombings and contract killings across Scandinavia, its foot soldiers competing for dominance in the region’s billion-dollar drug trade.
Led by Rawa “Kurdish Fox” Majid, who operates from Iran under apparent protection from Tehran, the group has become nearly impossible to dismantle.
Children as Weapons
The Oslo attack exposed a grim loophole in Scandinavian law: children under 15 cannot be prosecuted for serious crimes, including murder.
This legal shield has made minors an attractive tool for Foxtrot’s operations. According to police sources, the two boys were recruited on social media by a “handler” seeking under-age operatives.
They later met a man in his 30s in a secluded car park, where they were handed Bosnian army-issue grenades smuggled into Norway.
Both were eventually arrested. One was placed in juvenile care; the other was released — outcomes that highlight, investigators say, the legal system’s inability to respond to crimes committed by minors on behalf of adult syndicates.
A Wave of Child-Led Attacks
The Bislett bombing was only the beginning. Within weeks, two more Foxtrot-linked attacks followed: a grenade assault on a sushi restaurant in Strømmen, outside Oslo, and a shooting in Sarpsborg involving three boys aged 12 to 14.
Norwegian authorities now fear that Foxtrot — already responsible for most of Sweden’s gang-related violence — is attempting to import its model of child assassins across the border.
“Anyone under 15 cannot stand trial,” said Kripos chief Kristin Ottesen Kvigne, Norway’s top criminal investigator. “As they cannot be penalized, these Swedish criminals are deliberately using children to commit violent crimes.”
Integration and Exploitation
Lawmakers and police acknowledge that many of the recruited children come from migrant backgrounds, often marginalized and poorly integrated into Norwegian society.
That alienation has made them vulnerable to recruitment.
“The government has become blind to the situation,” said Mahmoud Farahmand, a Conservative MP and former intelligence officer whose family fled Iran.
“We have failed to protect children from being exploited — and now grenades are being thrown in the streets of Oslo.”
Community groups such as The Night Ravens, long known for patrolling nightlife districts, are shifting their focus toward preventing gang recruitment among migrant youth.
“We’ve failed at integration,” said the group’s secretary-general, Lars Norbom. “Now we have to prevent these kids from becoming killers.”
Cocaine, Cash, and Chaos
While Foxtrot made its fortune from heroin in Sweden, the gang has turned to cocaine trafficking in Norway, exploiting weak customs controls and under-staffed border forces. Officials recently intercepted 800 kilograms of cocaine — Norway’s largest ever seizure — hidden in banana crates.
“It’s now easier for a 17-year-old to get cocaine than alcohol,” warned Karin Tanderø Schaug, head of the Norwegian Customs Union.
The Justice Ministry has promised tighter coordination between agencies. “Crime must be combated, including acts committed on demand,” said Justice Minister Astri Aas-Hansen, calling the grenade attacks “extremely serious.” But critics say the government’s response has been slow and timid.
For many Norwegians, the violence represents a chilling break with their country’s image as a safe, cohesive society. “As a soldier, I saw grenades thrown in war zones,” Farahmand said. “I never thought I’d see it on my own street.”
