The Metropolitan Police have arrested more than 700 people and seized hundreds of stolen phones in what it has called its ‘largest ever crackdown’ on Lawless London.
Police officers in the capital carried out more than 50 warrants around London to recover stolen phones.
Video footage shows the moment officers followed a suspected phone thief into a pond.
They eventually waded into the pond to fish out six phones wrapped in foil, a tactic used by thieves to block signals and hinder tracking.
The Met also targeted second-hand phone shops suspected of handling stolen devices.
Police raided a shop in north London which detectives believed housed stolen phones. The raid eventually led officers to another address where 100 cells were found and five men were arrested.
Officers were seen on ‘Sur-Ron’ e-bikes that were deployed to combat the scourge of suspected criminals on fast two-wheelers.
Phone theft and robbery offences have fallen to their lowest level since 2022, new data from the Met revealed.
The Metropolitan Police have arrested more than 700 people and seized hundreds of stolen phones in what it has called its ‘largest ever crackdown’
The Met also targeted second-hand phone shops suspected of handling stolen devices
Video footage shows the moment officers followed a suspected phone thief into a pond
Some 3,963 thefts were recorded in August in London, compared with 3,311 in August 2022.
Commander Andy Featherstone, the Met’s lead for tackling phone theft, said: ‘Phone theft offences are now at a four-year low because of the Met’s relentless campaign to crack down on these criminals.
‘This was our biggest operation yet, with officers targeting every stage of the organised criminal chain, including street thieves, handlers and exporters.
‘Our message to these criminals is clear: London is becoming a much harder place to steal phones. The risks are increasing, the opportunities are shrinking, and we are coming after you.’
London was labelled ‘lawless’ after more than 80,000 phone thefts were recorded in 2024.
Countless videos have emerged of thieves on e-bikes in busy areas, such as Oxford Circus, zooming by pedestrians and snatching their phones.
Phone grabbing has become synonymous with the capital, with little hope of ever catching the criminals involved.
Almost nine in ten cases are closed without a suspect being identified – and just 0.82 per cent of crimes led to a charge across 17 forces in England and Wales in 2024-25.
But the Met have stepped up efforts to crack down on phone thefts.
They have used drones, high-powered e-bikes and live facial recognition to identify and arrest suspects.
Phone theft and robbery fell from 81,439 offences in 2024 to 71,867 in 2025.
The Met say that offences have fallen by a fifth this year. It said that there were 9,000 fewer victims this year than last.
Phone theft and robbery offences have fallen to their lowest level since 2022, new data from the Met revealed
London was labelled ‘lawless’ after more than 80,000 phone thefts were recorded in 2024
In Westminster, where nearly a third of all thefts in London occur, offences have fallen by almost 50 per cent.
Lord Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said: ‘The tide is definitely turning on mobile phone crime in London with 16,000 fewer mobile phones stolen in the past year and neighbourhood crime falling further too.
‘Record funding from City Hall is empowering the Met to go after every single part of the £50million-a-year trade in stolen phones.
‘New Met Police drones and Sur-Ron bikes are allowing the police to take the fight directly to the street robbers, while street vendor ‘middlemen’ who unlock stolen devices or break them up for parts are being shut down, and organised gang leaders responsible for smuggling stolen phones out of the country are being brought to book.
‘The ongoing clampdown has seen hundreds of criminals arrested with thousands of handsets seized. We are all determined to build on this progress and will continue to support the police and work with the mobile phone industry to go much further in preventing stolen phones being used, sold and repurposed, to build a safer London for all.’
Nearly a third of all thefts (18,932) in London last year were reported in Westminster, where Marylebone is situated, making it the worst-affected borough.
The Met have used drones, high-powered e-bikes and live facial recognition to identify and arrest suspects
Officers were seen on ‘Sur-Ron’ e-bikes that were deployed to combat the scourge of suspected criminals on fast two-wheelers
Trailing behind the central London zone were the boroughs of Camden (5,276), Southwark (5,276) and Hackney (3,977).
The other boroughs in the capital completing the top ten in 2025 were Newham (2,990), Islington (2,737), Tower Hamlets (1,921), Haringey (1,704) and Brent (1,531).
Sutton and Richmond-upon-Thames recorded the lowest levels of the crime at 88 and 106 respectively, followed by Bexley on 107, Merton on 138 and Havering on 198.
The Met worked to jail three men for a combined 25 years for trafficking up to 40,000 stolen phones from Britain to China.
The haul is believed to account for around 40 per cent of all phones stolen in London between 2024 and 2025.
Amir Khadikhel, an Afghan asylum seeker, together with compatriot Ismat Miakhel, 33 and Indian Mansoor Mohammed, 30, admitted receiving tens of thousands of handsets stolen by phone snatchers across Britain.
Street thieves were paid up to £300 per handset and the gang sold them on to the Middle East and the Far East for as much as $5,000 (£3,700).
Judge Adam Hiddleston, sentencing, described their offending as on an ‘enormous scale financially’ and labelled the gang’s criminality as ‘highly organised and sophisticated’.
Sarah Jones, Minister for Policing and Crime, said: ‘I welcome the excellent results from the Met and other forces involved in Operation Reckoning, which demonstrates the tough action and clear resolve of the police to clamp down on phone theft.
‘We are supporting that work by bringing in new powers for police to act much more swiftly where stolen goods have been electronically located and search properties without delay in securing a warrant.’