Overview
- Over the past four weeks, officers arrested 248 suspects for phone theft and seized about 770 stolen devices as part of intensified operations across London.
- Recorded phone thefts fell year on year from 81,365 in 2024 to 71,391 in 2025, a reduction of about 12.3% according to Met figures.
- A separate investigation targeting an export network led to 32 arrests, the recovery of more than 1,000 phones and 200 laptops, and about 20 suspects charged so far.
- City Hall announced plans for £4.5 million in additional funding, including a new West End command cell to coordinate real-time responses to phone snatching.
- The Met says gangs are recruiting children as young as 14 via social media and is urging manufacturers and telecoms to make stolen devices harder to reset and resell.