Police have disrupted an international network suspected of smuggling tens of thousands of stolen phones from the UK in its largest operation to tackle phone theft in London, the Metropolitan police said.
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.
The force launched Operation Echosteep in December 2024 after a box containing about 1,000 iPhones being shipped to Hong Kong was found at a warehouse near Heathrow airport.
Officers discovered almost all the phones had been stolen, police said.
They intercepted further shipments and used forensic evidence found on the packages to identify the suspects.
A man was charged with handling stolen goods after being stopped with 10 suspected stolen phones at Heathrow on 20 September, the force added.
Officers also discovered two iPads, two laptops and two Rolex watches.
Further inquiries revealed the same man had travelled between London and Algeria more than 200 times in two years, police said.
Two other men aged in their 30s were arrested three days later in north-east London on suspicion of handling stolen goods.
A number of phones were found in their car and about 2,000 more devices were found at properties linked to the suspects.
They were subsequently charged and remanded in custody, police said.
Two more men – also in their 30s – were arrested on 25 September on suspicion of money laundering and handling stolen goods after Met officers recovered about £40,000 in cash at a phone shop in Seven Sisters Road, Islington, north London.
Officers also seized a number of stolen devices during the search.
The men have since been bailed pending further investigation, police said.
Officers carried out a total of 46 arrests after a two-week operation, including 11 arrests made while police tackled criminal gangs robbing delivery vans for the new iPhone 17.
Another 15 people were arrested over the past week on suspicion of theft, handling stolen goods and conspiracy to steal, the Met said.
More than 30 suspected devices were also found during searches at 28 properties across London and Hertfordshire.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, thanked the force for “responding to Londoners’ concerns”, with the Met adding that robberies and thefts in London had dropped by 13% and 14% respectively so far this year.
“This is, without doubt, the largest operation of its kind in UK history, and it was humbling to see first-hand how the Met are going after the leaders of international smuggling gangs as well as the street robbers and snatchers fuelling this industrial-scale crime,” Khan said.
But Khan also called on the mobile phone industry to assist authorities by making it impossible for smugglers to use stolen phones.
“Criminals are making millions by repurposing stolen phones and selling them abroad, with many still able to access cloud services,” he said. “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.”
Det Insp 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% of all the phones stolen in London.”
Gavin added smugglers specifically targeted Apple products because of their profitability overseas, with street thieves being paid up to £300 a handset and stolen devices being sold for up to $5,000 (£3,710) in China.
This comes as cities around the world face a surge in mobile phone theft, with about 80,000 devices stolen in London last year, the Met said.
Commander Andrew Featherstone, the Met’s lead for tackling phone theft, said: “This is the largest crackdown on mobile phone theft and robbery in the UK in the most extraordinary set of operations of this kind that the Met has ever undertaken.”
