Agents of Chaos

Young men are being recruited online to commit acts of violence and sabotage in the UK and Europe in exchange for cash. From organised crime beginning in Scandinavia to Russia-backed arson attacks in London, and the stabbing of an Iranian dissident, the perpetrators are often teenagers with little or no ideological motivation. In this episode, Jacob Boswall from BBC Monitoring investigates how these men are recruited and who is behind it.

The trail begins with a Norwegian football-obsessed teenager who, in 2025, was courted by an Iran-linked organised crime group to carry out a hit in the UK. The young Norwegian was arrested in a hotel in Huddersfield with two weapons and live ammunition. In July, a court found him guilty of conspiracy to murder an unknown target in Britain.

The last two years have seen an uptick in similar incidents linked to foreign states, which security analysts and counter-terrorism specialists call hybrid or "grey-zone" warfare. Russia pioneered the tactic in Ukraine to carry out low-cost, high-volume attacks and cheap espionage, with young people often approached via gaming chatrooms. Now, the UK has become another frontline in this shadowy battleground. Recent high profile incidents include arson attacks on former PM Keir Starmer's home, an attack on a warehouse containing Ukrainian aid, and a string of attacks on Jewish targets at the beginning of the US-Israel war with Iran.

Jacob asks why young men are drawn into such conspiracies despite having little ideological motivation, and how much evidence exists to link the attacks to “hostile” foreign states such as Russia and Iran.

Production:
Presenter: Jacob Boswall
Producer: Emma Close
Technical Producer: James Beard
Editor: Justine Lang