A Copenhagen court has convicted two young Swedish men of terrorism for throwing hand grenades near Israel’s embassy in October 2024. The attack was carried out on behalf of the Swedish criminal network Foxtrot, which has connections to Iran, marking a case of terror for hire.
Court Reaches Terror Verdict After Split Decision
The Copenhagen City Court ruled that the October 2024 grenade attack near Israel’s embassy constituted an act of terrorism. However, the decision was not unanimous. Two judges and four jurors found the defendants guilty of terror, while one judge and two jurors disagreed with the terrorism charge.
The two Swedish men, aged 16 and 19 at the time of the attack, did not know each other before being recruited for the operation. Both were hired by Foxtrot, a Swedish criminal network whose leader maintains connections to Iran. The court determined that the personal motivations of the defendants were irrelevant to the verdict.
According to the presiding judge, the case paralleled contract killings where the perpetrator has no personal connection to the victim. The critical factor was the intent behind the actions, not whether the young men had any personal investment in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Family Narrowly Escapes as Grenades Hit Wrong Target
The younger defendant admitted to throwing two grenades that damaged a family residence close to the embassy. Fortunately, no one was injured in the explosions. Despite this, both men were found guilty of attempted murder against the residents of the damaged house.
The 21-year-old Swedish man explained in court that a direct attack on the embassy was not feasible, which led to the decision to target the nearby residence. This symbolic act was meant to serve as a proxy for an assault on the embassy itself.
Both defendants denied the terrorism charges. The younger suspect revealed during the trial that he had been working for Foxtrot since he was approximately 11 years old, carrying out violent acts including at least one murder for the criminal organization.
Messages Reveal Chilling Instructions From Handlers
The day before the Copenhagen attack, the 16-year-old also fired a shot at Israel’s embassy in Stockholm. This assignment came from the same handlers, and encrypted messages between the boy and his controllers became crucial evidence in the trial.
While waiting outside the Stockholm embassy with a loaded pistol, he received messages through an encrypted app instructing him to “empty the magazine, turn on automatic” and “don’t care what building it is.” The sender used the alias Rimfrost, and authorities have been unable to identify the person behind this profile.
A weapon malfunction prevented the teenager from firing more than one shot. For the Copenhagen operation, the messages ordered the two young men to “go crazy” with the grenades and “play psychopath.” According to prosecutor Søren Harbo, the goal was to terrorize the Danish population, particularly the Jewish community.
The prosecutor argued that the attack was designed to show that Foxtrot was acting as an extension of Hamas. The court majority agreed with this assessment, finding that an attack with hand grenades was capable of frightening the country’s population and posed an abstract risk of serious harm.
Interestingly, the court unanimously acquitted both defendants of endangering the soldiers who were guarding the embassy at 3 a.m. when the grenades exploded.
Defense Argues Grooming and Coercion
The defense attorneys presented a drastically different narrative. They portrayed the incident as a serious criminal act committed by two young men who did not understand what they were doing, rather than terrorism.
Defense lawyer Kåre Pihlmann emphasized that his client was simply completing an assignment without deeper reflection. He pointed out that the now 18-year-old is an Orthodox Christian from Eritrea with no ideological opposition to Israel or Jewish people.
During testimony, the younger defendant explained that he felt threatened and pressured by Foxtrot in 2024. He claimed he did not want to carry out either the Stockholm or Copenhagen assignments. His defense attorney, Jakob Buch-Jepsen, argued that message exchanges showed clear evidence of threats if the tasks were not properly executed.
The defense contended that their client was first groomed as a child and then coerced into criminal activity. They maintained he had no interest in world politics and harbored no antipathy toward Jewish or Israeli people.
Iran’s Shadow Over Scandinavian Criminal Networks
Swedish security service Säpo has publicly stated that Iran has used the Foxtrot network to carry out attacks and similar operations. This represents part of a broader pattern that Danish intelligence agency PET warned about last spring.
PET assessed that certain state actors do not hesitate to use violent means to advance their ambitions. This can involve paying proxies to act on their behalf, creating a layer of deniability while still achieving strategic objectives.
The use of young, vulnerable individuals from marginalized backgrounds represents a particularly troubling development in this form of state-sponsored violence. Criminal networks serve as intermediaries, recruiting teenagers who can be manipulated through a combination of financial incentives, threats, and exploitation.
The Copenhagen case demonstrates how international conflicts can manifest in unexpected ways on European soil. Criminal organizations with transnational reach are increasingly being weaponized by state actors seeking to project power without direct attribution.
Sources and References
The Danish Dream: Terror Trial Shakes Copenhagen After Embassy Attack
The Danish Dream: Best Criminal Defence Lawyers in Denmark for Foreigners
DR: Svenskere skyldige i at begå terrorangreb i Danmark med granater ved Israels ambassade
