After the pandemic lockdowns and following the rise of electric bicycles for hire, London was being swept by a wave of mobile phone thefts harming its image at home and abroad.
In just over two years, more than 10,000 phone thefts were reported on the prime shopping strip of Oxford Street. It seemed mobile phone theft in London was out of control, to the extent the trend was being described as an “epidemic”.
In the year to August 2025, 71, 979 phones were stolen in the UK capital, which, combined with stories about “Rolex ripper” gangs of luxury watch thieves, began to dent its reputation as a safe city to work in and visit.
The Metropolitan Police faced criticism for their apparent inability to find stolen phones, even when tracking apps directed officers to their location.
In response, the force began dedicating resources to tackling the problem, including the use of specially adapted motorcycles to go after thieves who snatch phones while riding electric bikes.
This is beginning to show in the numbers, and in the year to August the number of mobile phone thefts stood at 55,797, a reduction of 29 per cent compared with the previous year.
Major successes include the breaking-up of a gang responsible for trafficking up to 40,000 stolen mobile phones from the UK to China in 2024 and 2025, a haul officers say accounted for around 40 per cent of all phones stolen in London during that period.
As three criminals who ran the gang were handed prison sentences, a senior officer told The National how tackling mobile phone theft is a key element in making visitors feel safe.
“There's a bit of a narrative or perception about London not being safe, which, when you look at the facts, is simply not true,” said Commander Andy Featherstone, the Met’s lead officer for tackling phone theft.
“But this is one of the crime types that people will look at. We want the city to be safe, tourists to be safe, and anyone that comes here to live, work and visit can feel safe while they're here, so mobile phone theft is one of those key indicators of whether they can or not.
“We accept that three or four years, you go back, this was a significant issue. We've been on top of it for the last 18 months.”
The Met Police say they were alerted when a box containing around 1,000 iPhones being shipped to Hong Kong was found at a warehouse near Heathrow Airport in December 2024.
Staff at the airport alerted officers to their suspicions that the phones had been stolen, as desperate owners tried to track them down. Footage released by the force shows a phone alarm going off inside a package.
The Met launched Operation Echostep with specialist detectives who would ordinarily investigate armed robberies and drug smuggling. The task force was brought in to track down the suspects in what was the force’s biggest investigation into phone theft.
Officers intercepted further shipments and used fingerprints found on the packages to identify those responsible.
Investigations led to the arrests of Afghan citizens Amir Muhammad Khadikhel, 35, and Ismat Miakhel, 33, in north-east London.
Several hundred phones were recovered from their car, with a further 2,000 devices seized from properties linked to the men. Another member of the gang, Mansoor Mohammed, a 30-year-old Indian, was also arrested and charged.
The men appeared at Southwark Crown Court last Friday and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods and participation in activities of an organised crime group. Khadikhel was jailed for 9.5 years, Miakhel 9 years and Mohammed 6.5 years.
With street thieves paid $400 for each phone and some being resold for up to $5,000, they were making huge profits. The sheer concentration of people in the centre of the city offered them easy pickings.
Cmdr Featherstone said the modus operandi “of this particular organised crime group was varied”.
“Victims would just be walking down the street on the phone and the phone is snatched from their hand,” he said.
“There's other tactics, such as distraction thefts, and that might be where an individual is purporting to be asking a legitimate question to a member of the public, it gets them to get the phone out and then they snatch the phone. So there's various different methods … on the street, but it very much does and can impact tourists in the area.”
Concern about London’s reputation for crime has spurred some of the city’s business leaders to take action to “challenge misleading narratives”.
Dame Susan Langley, who heads the local authority that governs the City, recently launched a new global campaign to stand up to “disinformation” about London.
The initiative, called Team UK, brings together a coalition of more than 200 influential advocates from FTSE companies, industry associations and global partners.
“This matters because what starts online doesn’t stay online. It seeps into boardrooms and companies,” said Dame Susan, the Lady Mayor of the City of London.
“Team UK is about bringing together the full strength of British businesses to tell a clear confident story about what makes our country exceptional and to ensure the world hears it.
“Because the truth is London is a fantastic city in which to live, work and invest – one of the greatest economic success stories in the world. It's down to all of us to tell the truth about our city, not because we are defensive, but because we are proud.”
