UK police break up criminal gang suspected of smuggling stolen iPhones to China

Apple’s new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max
London police dismantled a criminal gang suspected of smuggling 40,000 stolen iPhones to China, marking their largest iPhone theft operation to date, with 46 arrests in the past two weeks. The gang is believed to account for roughly 40% of London’s phone thefts, fueled by a booming global market and quick escapes on e-bikes, a trend seen in other major cities.
Reuters:
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Police said in a statement on Tuesday that the investigation started last year, when a box containing around a thousand iPhones was discovered at a warehouse near London’s Heathrow Airport as it was being shipped to Hong Kong.
The group specifically targeted Apple products because of their profitability overseas, police said, discovering they were paid up to 300 pounds ($403.02) per Apple phone, which could be sold for up to $5,000 in China.
“This is the largest crackdown on mobile phone theft and robbery in the UK,” police commander Andrew Featherstone said. “We’ve dismantled criminal networks at every level, from street-level thieves to international organised crime groups exporting tens of thousands of stolen devices each year.”
Of the dozens of arrests, eleven were made when officers targeted gangs robbing courier vans delivering the new iPhone 17, while two men in their 30s were arrested on suspicion of money laundering after 40,000 pounds in cash was found at a phone shop in north London.

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MacDailyNews Take: Even criminal gangs don’t want pretend iPhones.

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