Overview
- The three defendants were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday to nine and a half, nine and six and a half years in prison, a combined 25 years.
- Prosecutors say the network exported about 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China in 2024–2025, a figure that represented around 40% of phones stolen in London during that period.
- The probe began after December 2024 when a Heathrow-bound shipment of foil-wrapped phones was intercepted, and forensic links from DNA on the tinfoil led to months of surveillance, seizures and arrests.
- Officers recovered more than 5,000 devices worth roughly £5.5 million and found a storage basement, cash and concealment tools such as Faraday bags, tin foil and SIM-extractor devices during raids in September 2025.
- Investigators described a supply chain that paid street thieves up to £300 per handset while devices could fetch thousands of dollars overseas, and prosecutors said the case shows how organised export routes deepen victim harm and can now be disrupted by cross-agency work.