80,000 Phones Stolen in London Last Year
Significant Number of Stolen Devices Trafficked to China, Algeria, and Beyond
Smartphone theft is rampant in London, United Kingdom.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 15th (local time) that "about 80,000 mobile phones were stolen in London last year," adding, "This is a significant increase compared to 64,000 in 2023."
Although the total number of crimes in London has decreased in recent years, smartphone theft has surged, accounting for about 70% of all theft cases last year.
The NYT analyzed that "the tightening of police budgets and a reduction in personnel in the United Kingdom have fueled this crime trend." Due to budget cuts, investigations into minor crimes have been deprioritized, and as police focus on violent and sexual offenses, investigations into mobile phone theft have been virtually neglected.
The methods of the crimes have also become bolder. Thieves, wearing masks and hats, ride electric bicycles and snatch phones from pedestrians' hands before fleeing. Since electric bicycles became widely available in 2018, this type of "snatch-and-grab theft" has sharply increased, and London has even earned the notorious reputation of being the "crime capital" of Europe.
Initially, police considered these incidents to be opportunistic crimes committed by individuals seeking quick cash, but recently, the scale of the crimes has grown and become more organized.
In December last year, a woman tracked her stolen phone using the "Find My iPhone" feature and discovered her device in a warehouse near Heathrow Airport, providing a breakthrough in the investigation. Police found about 1,000 stolen iPhones in this warehouse, most of which were disguised as "batteries" and hidden in cargo boxes bound for Hong Kong.
Detective Mark Gavin of the London Metropolitan Police said, "It has become clear that mobile phone theft is no longer just street pickpocketing but has evolved into an industrialized crime." Police subsequently deployed teams specializing in firearms and narcotics to pursue the case, and arrested two men in their 30s suspected of sending around 40,000 stolen smartphones to China.
These individuals wrapped the phones in aluminum foil to avoid tracking. While some of the phones were resold within the United Kingdom, a significant number were found to have been trafficked to China and Algeria.
According to the NYT, the latest iPhones in China have reportedly been sold for up to $5,000 (about 7.12 million won). Experts pointed out that "since many Chinese telecommunications companies are not part of the international blacklist system that blocks the use of stolen devices, an environment has been created in which stolen phones can be used as they are."
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