Three members of one of the country's largest phone smuggling networks are facing lengthy jail terms for their role in a trafficking operation worth tens of millions of pounds.
The Operation
Amir Muhammad Khadikhel, Ismat Miakhel, and Mansoor Mohammed, all based in London and in their thirties, admitted their role in smuggling more than 62,000 stolen devices to China in the last year. Almost one in every two phones stolen in the capital during that period is thought to have passed through their operation, which detectives codenamed Seagull and Heron for the two suspects at the top.
The racket was uncovered after detectives found a box containing around 1,000 iPhones being shipped to Hong Kong at a warehouse near Heathrow Airport when a member of the public used the Find My Phone feature to locate their device.
How the Network Operated
Detectives believe a huge network of pickpockets stole mobiles from unwitting members of the public before selling them on to around 50 middlemen such as Mohammed. Police said he paid up to £760 for the phones - all of which were Apple devices, never any other make - and then wrapped them up in tin foil in a mistaken attempt to prevent them being located. He then passed the bundles up to Khadikhel and Miakhel, the supposed brains of the operation, who packed around 300 devices into one consignment and dispatched them with couriers such as UPS and DHL.
Police believe the duo were sending two parcels a week, while Mohammed and other middlemen had a 'float' of potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay pickpockets for their stolen loot. The Met's investigation recovered a plethora of stolen phones from the organised crime group.
The Arrests
Afghan national Khadikhel, 35, of Wanstead, and Miakhel, 33, from Walthamstow, and Indian national Mohammed, 30, of Wood Green pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods, and participating in criminal activities of an organised crime group. Asylum seeker Khadikhel and Miakhel - who has a British passport - also admitted conspiracy to remove stolen goods. They entered their pleas on what was supposed to be the first day of their trial at Southwark Crown Court and were remanded in custody ahead of a sentencing hearing next month.
Dramatic footage showed Miakhel and Khadikhel being dramatically dragged from their car by police while driving through north London in September last year. The vehicle was a people carrier that had been converted into a mobile 'chop shop' used to disable and transport the stolen devices. Police caught them with a bundle of devices wrapped in foil to block their tracking signal.
Impact on Victims
Victims said their phones contained precious mementos such as cherished photographs and final voicemails from relatives who had since died. Detective Inspector Mark Gavin, the Met's senior investigating officer, said: 'Our detectives understand the real impact and distress that phone theft causes victims, which is why we have been determined to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.'
Commander Andy Featherstone, the Met's lead for tackling mobile phone theft, said: 'We are dismantling criminal networks at every level – from street thieves to international exporters – making hundreds of arrests and recovering thousands of stolen phones. Mobile phone theft is down by 13,000 offences compared with the previous financial year, but we are not letting up.'
To date, the Met's investigation team has made 14 arrests, recovered more than 10,000 stolen iPhones and seized in excess of £250,000 in illicit cash. More than 1,000 victims have been reunited with their stolen phones.
