Cyprus twin murder plot followed ‘violence-as-a-service’ model, Swedish police say

Local CrimeNorwaypoliceswedenTop News Cyprus twin murder plot followed ‘violence-as-a-service’ model, Swedish police say Court Rejects Bail Bid For Larnaca Businessman In Fraud Case Relevant News Cyprus twin murder plot followed ‘violence-as-a-service’ model, Swedish police say 9 September 2026 Egypt to join Cyprus independence parade for first time 9 September 2026 On this day: Queen Elizabeth becomes the longest reigning monarch of the UK in 2015 9 September 2026 newsroom 9 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Swedish police have described the alleged plot to kill British twin brothers in Cyprus as a “violence-as-a-service” operation — a model in which organised crime networks outsource killings to loosely connected operatives rather than using their own members, according to an investigation published September 8 by the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network (CIReN). “This is a fairly typical violence-as-a-service setup,” Teodor Smedius, a superintendent at the Swedish Police Authority’s National Operations Department, told Sweden’s SVT, as cited by CIReN. Smedius declined to say where the order for the killing may have originated, but said: “It is absolutely clear that our domestic criminal networks cooperate with other organised criminal networks across Europe.” The case bore several hallmarks of that model, CIReN found: recruitment through an encrypted messaging app rather than an existing criminal network’s own members, a cryptocurrency payment, and operatives from three different countries — Ireland, Norway and Sweden — who appear to have had no prior connection to one another. The plot began on the evening of August 10, when a user going by “Sponge Jobb” posted an appeal for a hitman in a Signal messaging group, CIReN reported, citing information submitted to a Cypriot court. Another group member, using an avatar of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, offered $60,000 in cryptocurrency for the killing and said weapons and transport were available. Eight people have since been arrested — an Irish national, two Norwegians and five Swedes — after a Danish undercover officer answered the post posing as a hitman and infiltrated the group, CIReN reported. The intended targets, twin brothers vacationing in Cyprus, left the island as the plot unfolded; police and Interpol are still searching for them, and no motive has been disclosed. The compartmentalised nature of the operation extended to how it moved money and weapons. The Irish suspect testified he was not involved in any murder plot at all, saying a Norwegian he had met while on holiday paid him €200 to deliver an envelope containing €1,000 to a location in Ayia Napa, telling him only that the money was owed to a friend. According to information that has since emerged in court, that payment was in fact intended for the undercover officer posing as the hitman, who collected it from a cardboard box behind rubbish bins near Ayia Napa Primary School while two alleged participants watched from nearby. The officer was later sent photographs of the twins and discussed delivering two pistols and ammunition, allegedly sourced from Turkey, through the same Signal channel, CIReN reported. The weapons never arrived before the twins left Cyprus and police moved against the suspects they had been watching. Several of the suspects held had existing criminal ties in their home countries. The five Swedish suspects were already known to police, CIReN said, while the two Norwegian suspects had criminal records in Norway, according to court documents obtained by Norwegian outlet VG: one had convictions for assault and fraud and had served a one-year, five-month sentence; the other had received a five-month sentence for storing narcotics. The Irish suspect, by contrast, is known to police at home only for traffic offences, according to information from Interpol’s Ireland office presented to the Cypriot court. Two of the Norwegian suspects’ lawyers disputed their clients’ involvement. Alexandros Clerides, representing one of the men, told VG his client denies any involvement in or connection to the matters under investigation. “My client was in Cyprus on holiday,” Clerides said. Omar Tashakori, attorney for the other Norwegian suspect, told VG he had no comment. Both Norwegians have exercised their right to silence in the Cypriot court, CIReN reported. 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