Police disrupt smuggling ring in ‘largest-ever’ phone theft crackdown

Local TV

The criminal organisation is believed to have smuggled up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China over the past 12 months – up to 40% of all phones stolen in the capital, the Met said on Monday.

Transcript

00:00Look online and you will find countless videos of mobile phones being snatched out of people's

00:12hands often in broad daylight on the streets of London. This is a big development on an issue

00:20that affects so many Londoners but it also shines light on the scale of this issue and organised

00:28crime in London. The criminal organisation subject to this Met Police operation is believed

00:36to have smuggled up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China over the past 12 months.

00:44That is up to 40% of all phones stolen in the capital during that time period. The force

00:52launched Operation EcoSteep in December last year after a box containing about 1,000 iPhones

01:00being shipped to Hong Kong was found at a warehouse near Heathrow Airport. Officers discovered almost

01:08all the phones had been stolen. They intercepted further shipments and used forensic evidence

01:16found on the packages to identify the suspects. A man was charged with handling stolen goods

01:24after being stopped with 10 suspected stolen phones at Heathrow Airport on the 20th of September.

01:34A man has carried out a further 46 arrests following a two-week operation.

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