Police are hailing an operation in London that they describe as largest crackdown on mobile phone theft and robbery in the UK. An international smuggling gang had seized thousands of stolen devices, that typically ended up re-sold in China. The Metropolitan Police says it has significantly disrupted the stolen phone market.
Commander Andrew Featherstone, the Met’s lead for tackling phone theft, said: “We’ve shown how serious we are about tackling this issue, but we need more help from the industry. We’re calling on phone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung to do more to support us and protect their customers — especially around phone security and re-use.”
In December 2024 a box containing around 1,000 iPhones being shipped to Hong Kong was found at a warehouse near Heathrow Airport. Police found almost all of the phones had been stolen – and this resulted in the launch of Operation Echosteep. Detectives intercepted further shipments and used forensics found on the packages. Detectives carried out further enquiries over the following months as more packages were sent out abroad.
Detective Inspector Mark Gavin, the senior investigating officer for Operation Echosteep, said: “Finding the original shipment of phones was the starting point for an investigation which uncovered an international smuggling gang which we believe could have been responsible for exporting up to 40 per cent of all the phones stolen in London.”
Echoing the Met, the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, said that the police can’t do it alone. He said: “Criminals are making millions by repurposing stolen phones and selling them abroad, with many still able to access cloud services. It’s simply too easy and too profitable. I will continue to call on the mobile phone industry to go harder and faster in designing out this crime by making stolen devices unusable. We need coordinated global action to shut down this trade and build a safer London for everyone.”
Among related crimes the police went after were robberies of courier vans delivering the new iPhone 17; and thefts of related consumer goods such as Rolex watches.
City
Meanwhile City of London Police carried out raids on organised phone snatching gangs. Operation Swipe warrants were executed during the City force’s ‘phone snatching intensification week‘, as part of its Safer City Streets campaign. Det Chief Supt Mandy Horsburgh, Head of Crime and Specialist Operations at the City force, said: “The City of London Police are at the forefront of the fight back against all those involved in phone theft criminality, whether this is snatching phones from people’s hands, using distraction techniques, handing the stolen goods or trying to export devices out of the country.” In the week, some 200 phones were marked, to make a stolen phone traceable. Of the stolen phones recovered by the City force over the last two years, fewer than half have been returned because the owners could not be located.
Background
In July, a report for the think-tank Policy Exchange by a retired Met Police man complained that London is in the grip of a ‘street crime epidemic’. The Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley wrote on July 31, as reported to last month’s London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, that ‘injuries from violence are lower than in any other large British city’. While he said that the Met will ‘shrink by 1,700 officers and staff this year’, officers are being added to the West End, ‘to bear down on crimes which Londoners care about the most – including anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls, shoplifting and phone robbery’.
City Hall
Meanwhile, City Hall is hailing that violence with injury is down in all 32 London boroughs. Lib Peck, Director of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, said: “Tackling violence is complex and that’s why it’s never been about one single way or approach to reducing it. Progress is being made because of the approach taken in London, with prevention showing impact and seen equally as important as enforcement.
“It’s down to partnership across London and the role of youth workers, mentors, teachers, community organisations and all those working on the frontline with young people, that means we’re seeing violence heading in the right direction.”
However, at least in terms of retail theft, Professional Security Magazine has regularly featured in recent years that retailers are facing more violence, and more extreme violence from some, such as challenged thieves or those asked to prove their age before buying alcohol.
