I recently met with Commander Andy Featherstone, the Metropolitan Police’s lead on mobile phone theft, to discuss the Met’s ongoing crackdown on this growing problem across London.
Commander Featherstone outlined the progress being made through targeted operations against the organised criminal gangs driving much of this crime. These operations have already resulted in significant arrests and the disruption of networks responsible for large-scale phone theft and trafficking.
We discussed how the vast majority of stolen phones are sent overseas, with around 90% being iPhones due to their high resale value. Encouragingly, the Met has been putting pressure on manufacturers, particularly Apple, to take stronger action to make stolen devices unusable. There are now signs of real progress, with discussions underway about trialling measures to permanently disable stolen phones and improve cooperation with police investigations.
Mobile phone theft causes real distress and insecurity for victims, and I will continue working with the Met and colleagues in Parliament to push for stronger enforcement, better prevention, and meaningful action from technology companies to help tackle this crime.