How did London become the European capital of cell phone theft?

London gains a reputation as the European capital of cell phone theft In an unmarked vehicle, police officers travel through various neighborhoods in London. Its objective: to combat cell phone theft by pickpockets, a plague that has led the city to be considered the European capital of this crime. In the London Bridge area, office workers enjoy pints of beer in the sun, while legions of tourists flock to Borough Market, London’s famous food market. There are many potential victims of cell phone thieves, says police officer Hayden O’Connor, pointing to pedestrians who pick up the phones to check directions or listen to music. “You see your bus arriving in 20 minutes, you pick up your phone, go to Instagram and, before you know it, an electric bike hurtles toward you and your phone disappears,” he explains. READ ALSO King Charles III and Queen Camilla are received by Trump and Melania at the White House Hayden O’Connor is part of a team that AFP accompanied during a few hours of patrol. Police officers receive alerts about stolen cellphones, but the chances of recovering any are “really slim”, admits their colleague, Hayley Carr. “Between 16 and 18 years old” Drones, real-time facial recognition systems and intervention teams are some of the means that the London police deploy to combat this crime. This type of robbery decreased by 12.3% last year, from 81,365 in 2024 to 71,391 in 2025, according to data from the Metropolitan Police. Stolen cell phones are usually exported, reactivated and resold abroad within a few days. In 2025, London police dismantled a network suspected of having smuggled up to 40,000 cell phones stolen in the United Kingdom into China. The phones “are sent to the four corners of the world”, highlights commissioner Gareth Gilbert. The team receives a call that a stolen phone has been located in Deptford, a neighborhood in east London. With the emergency lights on, the car begins to zigzag through the capital’s heavy traffic, but suddenly the phone’s location signal is lost. Thieves wrap the devices in aluminum foil to prevent them from being detected, agents explain. Hooded, the thieves are usually teenagers. “In general, they are between 16 and 18 years old”, says Hayden O’Connor, who in a recent operation related to these robberies, detained two 13-year-old boys. These young thieves are “recruited by large organized crime groups”, explains Gilbert. Teenagers quickly run the risk of finding themselves trapped in gangs and becoming involved in more serious criminal activities. Police request Young people usually earn between 100 and 200 pounds (between R$646 and R$1,300, approximately) for each phone stolen. “For a 13-year-old, it’s a lot,” comments Gilbert. On the same day, around midnight, the patrol team ended up arresting six thieves, the police reported. But the police ask that smartphone manufacturers get involved and collaborate in the fight against this phenomenon. London police chief Mark Rowley gave these companies until June 1st to propose methods that would render these cell phones unusable after they were stolen. If not, Rowley has committed to asking the government to legislate on the matter. “If a stolen phone became a mere unusable brick and its components could not be recycled, there would be no underground market,” he highlighted in March, during an international conference. The Elizabeth Tower, known as ‘Big Ben’, is seen at dusk in London, England Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

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