How one stolen iPhone led police to 40,000 smuggled to China: Inside London’s biggest phone-theft bust

Dubai: London’s Metropolitan Police have dismantled what they describe as the UK’s largest-ever mobile phone theft network, arresting 46 suspects in a sweeping operation that exposed a global gang smuggling tens of thousands of stolen phones to China.

According to a BBC investigation, the crackdown — codenamed Operation Echosteep — began in December 2024 after a single iPhone, stolen on Christmas Eve, was electronically tracked to a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.

Security staff helped police recover the device, which was hidden among nearly 900 other stolen phones bound for Hong Kong.

• At a glance

• Operation: Echosteep — UK’s largest-ever phone theft crackdown

• Arrests: 46 suspects across London and Hertfordshire

• Stolen devices: Nearly 40,000 phones, mostly iPhones, smuggled to China

• Origin: Began after a Christmas Eve–tracked iPhone led police to a Heathrow warehouse

• Street value: Thieves earned up to £300 per phone; resold abroad for £4,000 each

• Seizures: 2,000 stolen devices recovered; 28 properties raided

• Hotspots: Oxford Street, Westminster, West End — 75% of UK’s phone thefts in London

• Trend: Thefts tripled from 28,609 (2020) to 80,588 (2024)

• Impact: Personal robbery down 13%, theft down 14% this year, says Met Police

• Quote: “We’ve dismantled criminal networks from street thieves to global smugglers.” — Commander Andrew Featherstone

Detective Inspector Mark Gavin said the discovery “was the starting point for an investigation that uncovered an international smuggling gang responsible for exporting up to 40% of all phones stolen in London.”

Over the following months, police conducted raids on 28 properties across London and Hertfordshire, seizing more than 2,000 stolen devices and arresting suspects including two Afghan nationals and an Indian national accused of conspiring to traffic stolen goods. A dramatic arrest caught on bodycam showed officers intercepting suspects carrying foil-wrapped iPhones to evade tracking.

The Met Police, quoted by AFP, said it was “without doubt the largest operation of its kind in UK history,” with thieves targeting Apple products for their high resale value — fetching up to £4,000 each in China. Street-level robbers were reportedly paid up to £300 per phone.

Officials estimate the gang may have exported up to 40,000 stolen phones in the past year. The number of devices stolen in London has nearly tripled since 2020 — rising from 28,600 to 80,500 in 2024 — with most thefts occurring in tourist hubs like Oxford Street, the West End, and Westminster.

BBC’s interviews revealed victims’ frustration at police response times. Natalie Mitchel, 29, whose phone was snatched in Oxford Street last year, said she now feels unsafe in central London. “I’m always watching my bag and my phone. I think the Met should be doing a lot more — maybe undercover policing or more CCTV,” she told BBC News.

Police say they have stepped up efforts, deploying 80 additional officers in theft hotspots and launching social media campaigns showing officers chasing phone snatchers. The Met says personal robbery is down 13% and theft 14% so far this year.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan hailed the arrests, calling the operation “extraordinary,” and urged mobile phone makers to “go harder and faster in designing out this crime by making stolen devices unusable.”

“We need coordinated global action to shut down this trade and build a safer London for everyone,” Khan said.