"Twist said a series of operations over four weeks this January and February had brought together local officers with specialist teams to target the crime "in three tiers". He added: "We're looking at the people that are doing the snatches and the 'dipping', the pick pocketing. "We're doing the middle layer: the handlers receiving and organising that activity. "And then our organised crime teams and specialist crime are focusing on those at the upper end: the bigger networks exporting them across the world.""
"For the first time, the force has used drones to help spot thieves, following a pilot last October to test if they could support with the response to 999 calls. Twist said the drones were acting as their "eyes in the sky" to feed live footage to a dedicated control room to identify thieves on e-bikes and to "guide in" officers so that they could "deal with the snatchers even before they know we're on them"."
Recorded mobile phone thefts in London fell 12% to 71,391 offences in 2025, down from 81,365 in 2024, though a phone is still stolen every seven to eight minutes. A further £4.5m investment and a new West End hub aim to speed response times and bolster enforcement. A four-week operation combined local officers and specialist teams to target offenders in three tiers: street-level snatchers and pickpockets, handlers organising activity, and organised crime networks exporting phones. Drones were deployed to feed live footage to a control room and guide officers. Operations identified children as young as 14 being recruited via social media and paid up to £100; 32 people were arrested and 24 charged in connection with one gang, with more than 1,000 phones involved.
Read at www.bbc.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]