Overview

• Operation Echosteep began after a victim’s Find My tracking led police to a Heathrow-area warehouse in December 2024, where about 1,000 iPhones bound for Hong Kong were found to be mostly stolen.
• Two men in their 30s were charged and remanded after officers found stolen phones in their car and about 2,000 devices at linked properties, according to the Met.
• The targeted two-week phase produced 46 arrests, including 11 suspects accused of robbing courier vans delivering the new iPhone 17, as well as a man charged at Heathrow with 10 suspected stolen phones.
• Investigators say the network focused on Apple devices, paid street thieves up to £300 per handset, resold phones for as much as $5,000 in China, and used foil-wrapping to frustrate tracking.
• Searches recovered about £40,000 in cash at a North London phone shop and uncovered a suspect who had travelled between London and Algeria more than 200 times, as the Met reports robbery down 13% and theft down 14% this year.