Met Police Dismantle Phone-Smuggling Network, 46 Arrests

The Metropolitan Police’s year-long Operation Echosteep dismantled an international smuggling network accused of exporting up to 40,000 stolen mobile phones from London to China and Hong Kong — about 40% of the capital’s stolen devices — and led to 46 arrests and the recovery of thousands of handsets and tens of thousands of pounds in cash. The probe began after a victim tracked a stolen iPhone to a warehouse near Heathrow last December, where officers found roughly 895–1,000 iPhones in a single shipment, triggering forensic analysis, intercepted shipments and coordinated raids across London. Investigators recovered roughly 2,000 additional devices from properties and vehicles and seized phone shops and converted chop-shop vehicles. Police say the gang systematically bought high-end Apple devices from street thieves (paying about £200–£300 each), used tactics such as wrapping phones in foil to block tracking, and shipped them with false paperwork to sell overseas. Senior officers called it the largest UK crackdown on mobile phone theft, Mayor Sadiq Khan urged manufacturers including Apple and Samsung to strengthen protections, and inquiries into money laundering linked to the network are ongoing.