London gang dismantled as raid uncovers 1,000 stolen phones bound for Hong Kong

London police have dismantled a criminal gang responsible for up to 40 per cent of all phone thefts in the city in its largest operation targeting stolen phones after discovering about 1,000 such devices bound for Hong Kong.

The Metropolitan Police (Met) on Tuesday said that after an almost years-long operation it had arrested at least 17 people involved in a criminal network suspected of having smuggled more than 40,000 stolen phones from the United Kingdom to China.

“This is the largest crackdown on mobile phone theft and robbery in the UK in the most extraordinary set of operations of this kind that the Met has ever undertaken,” Commander Andrew Featherstone, the force’s lead for tackling phone theft, said.

The syndicate was believed to have been responsible for up to 40 per cent of all phones stolen in London, according to the force.

The force said it had launched an investigation, dubbed “Operation Echosteep”, after a box bound for Hong Kong containing about 1,000 iPhones – most of which were found to be stolen – was discovered in a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.

Media outlets had previously reported that many phones stolen from London could be traced to Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong district, as well as nearby cities in mainland China’s Guangdong province, where they were sold as used goods.

The Metropolitan Police said that specialist detectives who normally investigate armed robberies and drug smuggling were brought in to track down the suspects involved in the syndicate.