The Met has smashed an international stolen phone smuggling gang in the largest ever operation against mobile thieves in the capital.

Officers following a Find My iPhone tracker raided Heathrow Airport, where they uncovered another 1,000 stolen devices boxed up ready for a flight to Hong Kong.

The huge criminal network accused of organising the shipment is suspected of making millions after shipping 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China in the past year.

They are alleged to be responsible for 40% of phones stolen in London with the West End the ‘epicentre’ of the thefts. Under Operation EchoSteep, officers intercepted packages – marked up as containing batteries – after a victim’s Find my iPhone app tracked the device to Heathrow.

The thieves had failed to turn off all the devices

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