Unveiling the Metropolitan Police’s Special Unit Combatting London’s Phone Theft Epidemic

The streets of London have been plagued by phone snatching thieves for years, but a Metropolitan Police operation to crack down on the epidemic is now seeing results. 

Speeding around corners on electric scooters and bikes, gangs of phone grabbing criminals have stolen thousands of devices in recent years as part of a £50million-a-year crimewave.

Since October 2020, cases of phone theft in the capital have been steadily increasing. Between October 2023 and September 2024, a shocking 66,528 phones were stolen in London, according to statistics produced by the Met Police. 

But in recent months, ‘various operations’ deployed by the police force involving monitoring CCTV footage, increasing officers’ awareness and ’employing’ traffic units and surge teams have brought about a decrease in phone theft. 

A 27% decrease was recorded in November 2024 while, in an even more promising statistic, a 43% decrease was achieved the following month.

‘There’s been various operations by different proactive teams specifically towards two-wheel enabled crime,’ a video posted by the Met Police on X announced. 

‘And also just officers on the ground being more aware of it happening and going on the radio. CCTV operators shouting out before they commit offences so we can get the necessary units with the skills down. 

‘If a phone pings on a certain location of the map, we can plot the route that they’re taking and where they end up, and then hopefully find out where those phones are going.

Westminster, London’s most affected borough, saw 18,863 reported incidents in 2024 up until December.

The Met Police though, insist that ‘really, really good’ CCTV coverage in the posh London borough will be influential in stopping gangs of thieves snatching devices,

‘There’s CCTV cameras, one of the things in this borough (Westminster), they’re actually really, really good quality and we do have quite a lot of coverage,’ the video posted on February 7 continued.

‘We employ the use of traffic units and SURGE (Surge and Rapid Response Team) teams and they have high driving skills and the ability to – if there is a high risk – knock them off the bikes. 

‘Sometimes they (the thieves) do carry large weapons so it’s about immediate control of the arms, immediate control of the hands, and making sure you have sufficient units around you to support.

‘Between the actual offender doing a snatch, being monitored by CCTV operators and National Police Air Support, in their travels, they are being followed the whole time until police units can catch up and detain them and arrest them.’

The force is also using plain-clothed officers and phone-tracking data to gather intelligence and hunt down the smartphone snatchers plaguing the capital’s streets.

During a week-long blitz aimed at tackling the epidemic, more than 1,000 stolen phones were seized and 230 people arrested.

In one case, officers were able to take down a gang of thieves who, over an 18-month period, were caught handling more than 5,000 stolen phones in a crime spree totaling £5.1million.

Four men – Zakaria Senadjki, 31, Ahmed Abdelhakim Belhanafi, 25, Nazih Cheraitia, 34, and Riyadh Mamouni, 25, – were jailed for a total of 18 years in November for their role in the criminal gang. 

Despite such successes, however, Kaya Comer-Schwartz, London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, affirmed that there is ‘more to do.’

‘As the criminal demand for high-value mobile phones continues to grow globally, the Mayor and I are clear that companies must go further and faster to make it harder for stolen phones to be sold on, repurposed and re-used illegally,’ she said. 

‘We’ll continue to work with leading mobile phone companies, the Home Secretary and Met leaders to find innovative solutions to end the scourge of mobile phone crime.

‘The success in tackling phone thefts comes after the Met moved out of special measures last month, following major improvements in many areas of service to London.

‘These include responding more quickly to emergencies and strengthening neighbourhood policing to better respond to communities’ concerns, including tackling theft and robberies.

‘The Met is urging anyone who has lost or had stolen a phone to use the national mobile phone register so recovered handsets can be restored, via The Police National Mobile Property Register.’