A world gang suspected of smuggling as much as 40,000 stolen telephones from the UK to China over the previous 12 months has been dismantled by police in London. The prison community is allegedly chargeable for as much as 40 p.c of all telephones stolen within the metropolis throughout this era, in response to the Metropolitan Police service, which described the crackdown as its “largest ever operation to sort out cellphone theft in London.”
BBC News reviews that the investigation was launched final yr after a sufferer traced their stolen iPhone to a warehouse close to Heathrow Airport, which was found in a field containing round a thousand iPhones being shipped to Hong Kong. The intercepted cargo led to “vital arrests” and the restoration of stolen units, in response to the police announcement, with cellphone theft down by 14 p.c in London up to now this yr.
“This group particularly focused Apple merchandise due to their profitability abroad,” Detective Inspector Mark Gavin mentioned in a press release. “We found road thieves had been being paid as much as £300 (round $403) per handset and uncovered proof of units being offered for as much as $5,000 in China.”