A phone snatcher punched a pregnant woman in the stomach outside East Ham Tube station in east London. The attack occurred around 2pm on Tuesday, with CCTV capturing the robbery of a woman in her 30s.
British Transport Police tracked the victim's phone to a home and arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of robbery. A spokesperson said: 'We are committed to making the network a hostile environment for these offenders.'
Snatch thefts have surged by 150% in London over the past year, with a phone stolen every six minutes in the capital. In February, the Met Police reported arresting 230 suspected phone snatchers and recovering 1,000 mobile devices.
Commander Owain Richards, leading the Met's response, described phone thefts as occurring on 'an industrial scale', driven by criminals profiting from selling stolen devices. He called on tech companies to make stolen phones unusable and urged partners to intensify efforts to tackle the organised criminality behind the trade.
