Masked phone-snatching gangs using 70mph e-bikes are fuelling a surge in mobile thefts with more than 225 stolen on average every day across England, The Independent can reveal.
Data obtained through Freedom of Information requests shows there were at least 83,900 phone snatching offences recorded in the 12 months to July last year – almost double the 45,800 five years previously.
At the epicentre of the crime wave is London, where thefts more than doubled to 65,600 last year over the five-year period.
Police told The Independent they are facing a running battle with powerful criminal gangs sending e-bike bandits into busy pedestrian areas to snatch £1,500 mobiles from unsuspecting victims.
On Thursday morning, a suspected thief riding a Sur-Ron e-bike was found with at least eight mobile phones after being stopped by security staff in Smithfield in London.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was “totally unacceptable” for people to feel unsafe walking the streets on their phones on Wednesday as she announced polices forces will get extra powers to tackle phone thieves. Chairing a summit on smartphone theft, Ms Cooper said policing would be stepped up and arrest warrants speeded up.
The figures obtained by The Independent from 27 English police forces show the Metropolitan Police dealt with more than three-quarters of all mobile phone thefts (64,200) last year, followed by Kent Police and South Yorkshire Police.
City of London police, which covers the central region of the capital, saw 1,300 offences.
The Met Police and City of London also recorded 15,300 robbery offences, such as muggings, for mobile phones in the 12-month period to July last year – up from 14,700 five years previously.
Christopher Bramah-Calvert had his iPhone 13 snatched from his hands by an e-bike rider outside a gym in High Holborn in central London last year. The city worker, who is one of dozens who have spoken up about their experience in a bid to raise awareness, later tracked the device to China, before he was sent a threatening video asking him to disconnect it from his Apple account.
Other victims include Labour MP Chris Webb, who was mugged for his phone while on his way back to his London flat, and a woman who managed to recover her device after pursuing two suspects in north London.
On Wednesday, The Met Police said it seized 1,000 stolen mobiles and arrested 230 people in one week, cracking down on the “£50 million-a-year trade in stolen phones”. The City of London police force has also deploying teams of plain-clothed officers to catch offenders.
Last year, a thief was caught stealing 24 mobile phones in central London by City of London police.
But Inspector Dan Green said the rise in the use of illegal e-bikes was making their work challenging. The force has seized more than 400 over the past 18 months – more than any other in the country.
“E-bikes are capable of doing 50, 60, 70mph sometimes on something the same size as a mountain bike, they are really agile and we can’t get anywhere near some of them,” he told The Independent.
“Their [victim’s] phones goes, then a few seconds of ‘what the hell just happened’ then they [thief] are gone – that [the e-bikes] has been a significant change in how they are carrying out these thefts.”
The brazen thieves work together as part of organised crime groups, said Insp Green, who described how teams of e-bikers use central London as a ‘thoroughfare” to snatch multiple phones each day.
“Anywhere you go in London, anywhere, you see people on their phones,” he said. “I think they [thieves] just come in and chance their arm and if they get three or four phones, that’s a lot of cash to be had.”
Insp Green said the thieves target newer phones such as as iPhone 15 and 16 models, with older phones sometimes discarded on the floor within seconds of a snatch.
When tracking the devices, police teams have found them in locations as far away as northern Africa, Dubai and Shenzhen in southern China. Experts say phones are sent to the Chinese city, which has the largest electronics market in the world, for resale or parts.
Insp Green said his team was working with the Met to combat the gangs, while pushing tech companies to take action, such as making a device’s unique 15-digit IMEI code viewable on a lock screen to help trace the owner.
He also appealed for people to be mindful when using their phone while walking in central London. “We face a challenge but together through partnerships with police and support from the public, we hope to dismantle these gangs.”
