Met Police Arrests 230 People in London for Phone-Snatching

Phone-snatching thieves riding motorcycles, amongst others, are being apprehended by the Metropolitan Police, as well they should, as 230 people have been arrested for such crimes in the last week.

The ‘blitz’ by the police has taken place in London where all the arrests have been made, while the force says it has also seized more than 1000 handsets. To catch the criminals, the police have been working as plain-clothed officers in hotspot areas to catch the offenders.

The West End and Westminster are believed to be two of the major hotspots for these crimes, and the force is also using tracking technology to recover the stolen phones.

The police has made an increased effort over the last few weeks to find the scumbags, as it attempts to deal with a £50m-a-year trade in stolen phones in the nation’s capital. The police are also working closely with technology companies to clamp down on mobile phone theft.

World-renowned brands such as Apple, Samsung and Google were urged to aid the police by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Thursday. A recent victim in the north of London had his phone stolen by someone dressed in black riding an e-bike.

In that instance the phone was never recovered despite the police identifying where it ended up, which was a repair shop that had previously been found doing criminal activity.

A statement from the Met’s commander, Owain Richards, said: "We are seeing phone thefts on an industrial scale, fuelled by criminals making millions by being able to easily sell on stolen devices either here or abroad.

"By intensifying our efforts we're catching more perpetrators and protecting people from having their phone stolen in the capital."

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