Met Police Bust Phone Thief Gang, Slash Crime

0:00On April 28th, Met Police just busted a gang of six phone thieves hitting up tourists in London with a slick social media scam. These crooks would ask folks to unlock their phones and follow them online, then snatch the device and bolt on modified e-bikes. The arrests went down in hot spots like South Bank, Burrow Market, and Waterloo. On the eve of April 24th, plane closed cops, pursuit drivers, and bike units zeroed in on the crew right after midnight on Burrow High, street in South work. They moved fast, cuffing the suspects on the spot, and that same night racked up over 15 arrests for robbery, theft, and drugs. Phone theft is a top priority for the Met, and it's paying off big time. They've slashed off fences by 13,000 in the last financial year, with theft from the person down 21% across London. That's 20,000 fewer victims. In South work and Lambeth alone, e-buy crimes linked to these thefts dropped nearly 40% in just one week.

1:00Earlier ops like Operation Reckoning in January, NAB 248 suspects, and they've seized 3,000 illegal e-bikes and, scooters since last year, Detective Superintendent Gareth Gilbert says their tactics are working, keeping neighborhood crime down 15% and sparing 40,000. People, the hassle. Now the Met Commissioner is pushing phone makers in tech giants to make stolen devices useless by June 1st, or they'll call on the government for. New laws to lock that down for good.