Thousand stolen mobile phones seized at Heathrow as police target Algerian market

Police have tracked many devices stolen in London to Algeria

A mobile phone is snatched from a victim on a London street. Photo: Metropolitan Police

UK police seized a shipment of 1,000 stolen mobile phones at Heathrow Airport, which were destined for North Africa.

London’s Met Police revealed the figure while giving evidence to Parliament about phone thefts in the British capital, where last year 80,000 devices were reported as stolen.

Gangs have been frequently raiding areas popular with tourists.

According to police data, 75 per cent of stolen phones are moved abroad, with about a quarter of those ending up in Algeria.

In written evidence submitted to the House of Commons, the Met’s chief digital data and technology officer, Darren Scates, revealed the scale of the problem.

“The Met are also actively targeting the gangs that profit from this activity and have had significant successes in seizing batches of stolen devices in London including at Heathrow airport where in one example over 1,000 phones were intercepted bound for North Africa,” he said.

A spokesman said the Heathrow seizure was the subject of a continuing investigation and the force was unable to comment further. The police did not provide an exact date but it is believed the seizure was carried out some months ago.

From left, Riyadh Mamouni, Ahmed Belhanafi, Nazih Cheraita and Zakaria Senadjki have been jailed for handling stolen phones and carrying out financial crimes. Photo: Metropolitan Police

Speaking to the committee members, Mr Scates said that stolen devices had an average street value of £300 to £400 ($400 to $540) with about 80 per cent being iPhones.

“We have done some research into what happens to the devices, as you would expect,” he told MPs.

“What we find is that about 75 per cent of them, we believe, are actually moved abroad. The prime locations at the moment – I am sure this will vary – will be Algeria and China/Hong Kong.

“About 28 per cent go to each of those two locations. That is the scale of the international problem, and the London problem.”

Mr Scates said London police were working with the National Crime Agency, the UK’s equivalent of the FBI, to shut down the market for stolen phones in Algeria.

“We are in contact with the Algerian authorities,” he said. “They have actually been very co-operative in helping us to track what is happening in Algeria, so we can get to the actual source of the problem.”

James Conway, head of the Met Police’s phone theft unit, said London’s existing criminal networks have created a fertile environment for phone theft.

“You already have organised crime networks well established in London,” said Commander Conway. “You have export and trafficking routes in and out of the UK that have a significant and long-standing serious and organised crime focus on London.”

The total street value of phones stolen was £20 million, which means mobile phone theft is “largely an international organised crime phenomenon driven by the criminal economics”.

Commander Conway explained that “two broad themes” have emerged when it comes to who carries out the thefts.

On one level there are “criminal gangs who are themselves instigating and managing the theft” while on another hand there are also “disorganised criminals going out and stealing phones and then passing them on to a handler”.

At the end of last year, an Algerian gang based in London who used more than 5,000 stolen phones to steal thousands of pounds from victims, were jailed.

Over the course of 18 months, the gang worked with pickpockets and drive-by thieves to steal the phones, which they then used to drain bank accounts, illegally obtain loans or otherwise steal money, with crimes totalling £5.1 million.

Some victims had thousands of pounds transferred out of their accounts, while others were charged for fraudulent payments for designer clothes.

Zakaria Senadjki, Ahmed Abdelhakim Belhanafi, Nazih Cheraitia, Riyadh Mamouni, all living in London, were convicted of various charges, including conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to receive stolen goods were jailed for between two years and eight months and eight years.