Sirens blared as police vans converged on a north London street, causing passers-by to stop and stare as officers swiftly moved into three secondhand phone shops.
“Do you have a safe on your premises, sir?” an officer questioned a shopkeeper, who was seated by his computer with a half-empty cup of tea.
The man silently observed as police meticulously searched through phones, cash, and documents from two safes. This raid, one of dozens conducted across the capital last month, is part of a renewed, high-profile effort by London’s Metropolitan Police to tackle the persistent phone theft problem plaguing the city for years.
The scale of this crime has far surpassed the simple pickpocketing acts famous in London since the days of Charles Dickens. Increasingly bold thieves, often masked and riding e-bikes, have become experts at snatching phones from unsuspecting residents and tourists. A staggering 80,000 phones were stolen in the city last year, according to police figures, earning London an unwelcome reputation as a leading European capital for this type of crime.
Last month’s operations aimed to pinpoint a group of intermediaries who, according to police, leverage secondhand phone shops as part of an intricate global criminal enterprise. By the conclusion of the two-week initiative, detectives had recovered approximately 2,000 stolen phones and £200,000 ($266,000) in cash.
After years where phone theft was not a top priority for an overburdened police force, these new efforts are shining a light on the complex combination of factors driving the surge. These include severe cuts to British police budgets in the 2010s and a highly profitable black market for European cellphones in China.
A Mile of Aluminum Foil
For a long time, London police believed most phone thefts were committed by small-time criminals seeking quick cash. However, last December, an intriguing tip came from a woman who tracked her stolen device via “Find My iPhone” to a warehouse near Heathrow Airport. On Christmas Eve, officers arrived to find boxes destined for Hong Kong, falsely labeled as batteries, but containing nearly 1,000 stolen iPhones.
“It quickly became apparent this wasn’t just normal low-level street crime,” stated Mark Gavin, a senior detective leading the Metropolitan Police investigation. “This was on an industrial scale.”
This breakthrough coincided with a broader police initiative to restore public confidence by tackling common urban crimes. Phone theft, in particular, has been a source of immense frustration for victims who, for years, reported their cellphones stolen and even provided tracking locations, only to receive a crime reference number and no further updates.
Police are now leveraging this data to chart the routes stolen phones take from street thieves. Following the Heathrow seizure, a specialized team, usually assigned to firearms and drug smuggling cases, took over the investigation. They identified additional shipments and used forensic evidence to identify two men in their 30s suspected of leading a ring that sent up to 40,000 stolen phones to China.
During their arrest on September 23, the men’s car contained several phones, some wrapped in aluminum foil in an attempt to block tracking signals. Police reported at a news conference that they had observed the men purchasing almost 1.5 miles’ worth of foil from Costco at one point.
While some stolen phones are reset and resold to new users within Britain, many are shipped to China and Algeria, operating under a “local-to-global criminal business model,” according to police. In China, the newest models can fetch up to $5,000, creating massive profits for the criminals involved.
Joss Wright, an associate professor specializing in cybersecurity at the University of Oxford, explained that it’s easier to use stolen British phones in China because many Chinese network providers do not adhere to an international blacklist designed to bar devices reported stolen.
“That means that a stolen iPhone that has been blocked in the U.K. can be used without any problems in China,” Mr. Wright confirmed.
E-Bikes and Balaclavas
Exporters sit at the apex of this three-tiered criminal network, police explain. In the middle are shopkeepers and entrepreneurs who acquire stolen phones from thieves and then either resell them to unsuspecting buyers or prepare them for international transport. At the lowest level are the thieves themselves, whose numbers have grown due to the lucrative profits and a perceived lack of repercussions.
Despite an overall decrease in crime in London in recent years, phone theft remains disproportionately high, accounting for about 70 percent of all thefts last year. The problem has intensified sharply, with 80,000 phone thefts recorded last year, a significant jump from 64,000 in 2023, as reported by police to a parliamentary committee in June.
This surge is partly because the crime is both “very lucrative” and “lower risk” compared to offenses like car theft or drug dealing, stated Cmdr. Andrew Featherstone, the officer spearheading efforts against phone theft, at a recent news conference. Thieves can earn up to £300 (approximately $400) per device, which is more than triple the national minimum wage for a day’s work.
Moreover, criminals operate with a sense of immunity. Police data reveals that between March 2024 and February 2025, around 106,000 phones were reported stolen in London, yet only 495 individuals were charged or received a police caution, indicating an admission of guilt.
While phone theft is a challenge in many major cities, including New York, London police argue that varying crime reporting methods make global comparisons difficult. However, many experts attribute London’s particular struggle to a uniquely British issue: the lasting effects of austerity measures enacted by Conservative-led governments in the 2010s. These policies led to significant cuts in police personnel and budgets. In 2017, the Metropolitan Police announced it would cease investigating low-level crimes with little chance of identifying culprits, to focus resources on serious violence and sexual offenses.
Emmeline Taylor, a criminology professor at City St. George’s, University of London, noted in an interview that the police “became more of a reactive force,” observing, “Low-level career criminals realized that they were getting away with the crimes they were committing.”
Then came a technological innovation that further simplified their illicit trade: electric bikes. When Lime bikes, available for rental and drop-off anywhere, launched in London in 2018, they quickly exploded in popularity. Soon after, e-bikes became the preferred getaway vehicle for phone thieves.
Sgt. Matt Chantry, who led last month’s raid, described thieves on e-bikes as “a real problem” in an interview. They quickly mount sidewalks and snatch phones from people’s hands at high speed, he explained, while making themselves “unidentifiable” with balaclavas and hoods. “How do you police that?” he questioned.
Attempting to pursue them through London’s often congested streets carries “high risk,” he added, endangering pedestrians, other drivers, and even the offender. Ultimately, he noted, police must weigh whether the risk of a fatality is justifiable for a cellphone.
Lost and Found: 4,000 iPhones
Last month’s operation on the three secondhand shops in north London proved successful, with police recovering £40,000 and five stolen phones. These devices will join approximately 4,000 other stolen iPhones recovered by police since December, currently stored in a Putney, southwest London, facility as officers work to contact their owners.
Long-term, Commander Featherstone expressed the police’s ambition to dismantle the criminal networks driving this illicit trade and “disincentivize criminals from wanting to steal phones” by demonstrating that they can and will be caught.
However, police are also urging users to be more vigilant about their personal security. Despite smartphones becoming more advanced and valuable, many individuals handle them with less caution. For today’s phone thief, a prime target is a pedestrian walking near the curb, engrossed in their screen—whether checking a map, sending a text, or watching a video.
“You wouldn’t count your money on the street,” observed Lawrence Sherman, an emeritus criminology professor at the University of Cambridge. “But when the phone is worth £1,000, it’s like pulling £1,000 out of your wallet and looking at it as you walk.”