London police step up crackdown as mobile phone thefts remain widespread

London: London’s Metropolitan Police have intensified efforts against mobile phone snatching, a crime that officers say is often carried out by teenagers on e-bikes and linked to wider organised criminal networks.

According to the Metropolitan Police, phone thefts in the city dropped by 12.3 per cent, from 81,365 in 2024 to 71,391 in 2025. The force said there were 13,000 fewer mobile phone thefts in the financial year ending March 31.

The crackdown has included the use of interceptor teams in unmarked vehicles, as well as drones and live facial recognition. The police have made tackling phone theft a priority as London has been described as Europe’s phone theft capital.

During a Friday night patrol in central London joined by AFP, police officer Hayden O’Connor pointed to how easily people become targets when using their phones in public.

“You see, your bus is in 20 minutes, you get your phone out, start scrolling Instagram, and before you know it, there’s a whizzy whirl of an e-bike coming towards you and your phone is gone,” he said.

O’Connor is part of the interceptor teams that respond to reports of stolen phones. However, police officer Hayley Carr said the likelihood of recovering a stolen device remains low.

AFP accompanied officers around London Bridge as office workers and tourists filled the area near Borough Market. During the patrol, the police control room alerted the team to a stolen phone being tracked to Deptford. Officers drove toward the location with emergency lights on, but the tracking signal later disappeared.

Police said thieves often wrap stolen phones in aluminium foil to block tracking signals. Officers also said phones stolen in London are frequently exported, reactivated and sold abroad within days.

One of the most prominent recent victims was Morgan McSweeney, former top political aide to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose phone was snatched in October. The Metropolitan Police said it dismantled an international gang last year that was suspected of smuggling around 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China.

Teenagers and organised crime links

Police said many of the street-level offenders are teenagers. O’Connor said those involved are often aged 16 to 18, and on one recent patrol he arrested two boys aged 13.

Detective Superintendent Gareth Gilbert said these youths are being used by larger criminal networks.

“They are young teenage boys and they are recruited by larger organised crime groups,” Gilbert told AFP.

He said what may appear to be a minor street offence feeds into a broader criminal chain.

“That leads upstream into organised crime groups and then actually worldwide.”

Gilbert said thieves typically earn between 100 and 200 ($135 to $270) for each phone, adding that such sums can be significant for very young offenders.

He also said police action had produced results.

“In just one week, we cut e-bike-enabled crime, which is linked to phone theft, by nearly 40pc,” said Detective Superintendent Gareth Gilbert. “Our message is simple: if you commit these crimes, we will catch you.”

Police later said six people were arrested around midnight during that Friday night patrol.

Officers said police motorbikes have been more effective than unmarked cars in pursuing suspects because interceptor vehicles struggle to match the speed and manoeuvrability of e-bikes, even when riders ignore traffic signals.

Met Commissioner Mark Rowley has called on phone manufacturers to help curb the crime by June 1 through measures that would make stolen devices worthless. He has said that if this is not done, he will ask the government to introduce legislation.

Police advised the public to report thefts immediately and use phone tracking services such as Find My iPhone. O’Connor said delayed reporting reduces the chances of any police response being effective.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t leave us in a position to do anything about it,” said O’Connor.