The 'highly organised' Algerian phone-snatchers targeting City workers
London's phone theft epidemic is being fuelled by 'highly organised' Algerian gangs stealing luxury items to sell in black market bazaars, experts have warned. One former Met detective who now runs a private police force said his officers were catching phone thieves 'almost daily', with many of them hailing from the North African nation.Algeria is now a key destination for stolen UK handsets thanks to booming demand for second-hand Apple handsets in the country due to protectionist import restrictions and the absence of a legitimate Apple outlet.Gangs also target other electronic gadgets and high-value items, including luxury watches.Experts told the Daily Mail thieves 'assess their victims in seconds', preying on City workers who might appear 'nonchalant and naive'. They particularly target those wearing a uniform consisting of a gilet, a smart shirt and other lavish clothing, while leaving luxury items like designer watches and smartphones on display as they enjoy post-work drinks.One trio, Adam Zawi, Oussama Fadage, and Aouidj Abderaouf, were jailed for between 36 weeks and a year after being caught on camera swiping rucksacks filled with £4,000 worth of laptops, tablets and headphones.A furious judge described the men - who had arrived by small boat from France - as committed criminals who had abused Britain's kindness. Zawi, who claimed to be 21, was staying in a taxpayer-funded hotel at the time of the thefts in July.This week alone, another two gangs were also jailed for crime sprees targeting City workers.Khaled Behaz, 25, was locked up alongside his Algerian accomplice Yacoub Leulmi and banned from the Square Mile after admitting five counts of theft when CCTV footage caught him stealing from victims inside restaurants and pubs in the City.And Algerian migrant Munir Ghilas, 28, targeted 16 separate City workers at bars in central London between August and September last year - stealing some £31,000 of goods. He was jailed for 18 months. Ghilas prowled bars including All Bar One, the Aldgate Tap House and The Banker pub - stealing passports, laptops and Apple MacBooks.Theft operations can be vast in scale, with 1,000 phones recovered last year at a warehouse near Heathrow. Police also arrested a 'mule' who had travelled between London and Algeria more than 200 times in two years.While gangs stealing UK phones for sale in Algeria are often made up of Algerian nationals, the profits to be made there mean other nationalities are inevitably involved too. Phone thief Aouidj Abderaouf walks past a rucksack that he later made off with. The bag is pictured in the bottom left of this video grab Khaled Behaz, 25, was on CCTV stealing a laptop from a restaurant on Bread Street in the City of London Abderaouf (left) was part of a gang of illegal migrants from Algeria who targeted drinkers in London. The group also included Oussama Fadage (right) Khaled Behaz, left, and Yacoub Leulmi, right, were both jailed after admitting stealing from central London venues
David McKelvey, a former detective chief inspector in the Met who now runs private investigation firm TM Eye, said phone thieves typically worked in small groups and often targeted specific venues, including pubs, clubs and casinos.'We are catching phone thieves almost daily - many are Algerian and many Eastern European,' he told the Daily Mail.'It's organised. We see the same faces day in, day out and the same groups operating together in groups of two, three or four.'Some of them target specific venues such as clubs, casinos and restaurants, with someone working from inside to highlight a victim who can be robbed outside.'You can tell a potential victim immediately. Quite often they've had too much to drink and are on their own, or they'll be a tourist who appears to be vulnerable or a little bit lost and not aware of their surroundings.'We spend a lot of time identifying potential victims and either escorting them or advising them to be careful and not keep their phone in their hand.'Mr McKelvey said phone thieves benefitted from a reluctance among many victims to report their phones as stolen.'The problem we've got is we catch thieves but can't pass the case on to police because the victims haven't reported their phones as stolen,' he said.'At least 50 per cent of these thefts don't end up getting reported or recorded, so the intelligence picture is incomplete.'Join the debateDo YOU feel safe in London?
Stolen phones end up in the hands of traders in locations like Belford Market in El Harrach, a suburb of Algiers. There is no suggestion these particular phones were stolen Dramatic footage shows prolific thief Zacariah Boulares creeping up behind Genevieve Chenneour before stealing her phone Read More UK gang who export HALF of Britain's snatched handsets and shipped 40,000 to China is smashed Dr Simon Harding, of the National Centre for Gang Research, explained that sophisticated gangs target City workers wearing certain items of clothing and sometimes even imitate their style to blend in.He said: 'They will be able to assess and scrutinise somebody within seconds. They will know whether they are likely to fight back and whether they will pursue.'There is definitely a particular way some people present, as being affluent, a little bit nonchalant, carefree, and it presents naivete and ignorance.'And the people doing this will not look like your average street person, they'll be smart.'Dr Harding painted the picture of a typical victim who might wear gilets, suits and other smart items of clothing which suggest wealth.He also urged people to be wary of having state-of-the-art phones and laptops laid out on pub and cafe tables or leaving expensive bikes unattended outside buildings.Thieves can pick out a luxurious watch on a City worker's wrist from a distance, the crime expert added, and can quickly identify the brand and whether it is worth swiping.'It's rather terrifying to think we're in a society where you can't adorn yourself with practical things such as a watch or a handbag,' he said.'If you have a watch that is more than £400 or £500, somebody's going to covet it. And they will know the watch.'And if they don't think they can take it swiftly or deftly, they'll hold a knife to you and take it that way, especially if your watch is £20,000 or £30,000.'Dr Harding added that the City's enduring culture of post-work drinks makes these events hotspots for thefts, with gang members entering pubs, bars and restaurants to make off with expensive items. Data compiled by the Met and Apple suggests 75 per cent of stolen phones are moved abroad, with 28 per cent of those ending up in Algeria.This made it the most common destination, with China the second most common destination - accounting for a fifth.Cybersecurity expert Thomas Balogun said gangs were increasingly realising they can make more money trafficking phones to Algeria than China.Stolen phones end up in the hands of traders in locations like Belford Market in El Harrach, a suburb of Algiers, where they are sold on for huge profits.'In Algeria there is a very high demand for Apple phones because there is no Apple outlet there,' Mr Balogun told the Daily Mail.'People would rather buy a stolen second-hand phone for half price in Algeria than pay to travel to Europe and buy one full price there.'Explaining its attraction, Mr Balogun continued: 'Typically China was a big destination for stolen phones, but the market is very saturated there and phones are usually sold in parts.'So criminals are finding they can make more in Algeria, especially because it is closer to fly to than China.'I've heard stories where people have left on flights with checked-in baggage containing lots of mobile phones.'There needs to be more training for people scanning baggage so anyone carrying lots of phones can be asked where they got them from.'At the moment criminals find it easy because they know they won't be questioned - as soon as that starts happening, you'll see the number of stolen phones reducing.' Boulares, 18, was jailed for 22 months. He is pictured in a police mugshot Mr Balogun said the trade in stolen watches worked in a similar way.Police hailed a major victory in October when they busted a gang who were exporting almost half of the mobile phones stolen on Britain's streets.Roughly 300 officers smashed into 28 homes across London simultaneously in the dead of night to arrest groups of pickpockets and robbers behind an epidemic of snatch thefts.Two days previously, two Afghan gang leaders thought to be responsible for shipping 40,000 stolen devices to China and Hong Kong were dragged from their car and arrested in north London.The two men, codenamed Heron and Seagull, are at the head of a gang responsible for fuelling Britain's £70-million-a-year phone theft epidemic and were caught with a bundle of devices wrapped in foil to block their tracking signal, police chiefs said.Two 'Rolex rippers' were jailed in July for a total of five years after targeting undercover police officers posing as a wealthy couple bearing fake designer watches.CCTV footage showed how Algerian national Yakob Harket, 21, grabbed a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch from the female officer's wrist in Mayfair, west London. He admitted robbery, alongside fellow defendant Mohamed Naas, 35, who was convicted of robbery by a jury after a three-day trial. CCTV footage showed how Algerian national Yakob Harket, 21, grabbed a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch from a female police officer's wrist in Mayfair, west LondonYanis Amri, 37, and Adel Mohamdi, 31, were meanwhile convicted in their absence after they absconded. Arrest warrants were issued for the pair last year. Figures released by the Met in August showed 116,000 mobile phones were stolen in London last year, or 320 every single day.The London borough with the most phones stolen in 2024 was Westminster, with 34,039. Camden came second with 10,907, followed by Southwark with 7,316.There were 116,656 reported mobile thefts in 2024 – the highest number on record – and more than 50 per cent higher than the total in 2017 of just over 77,000.Last year's total was equivalent to 13 phones being stolen every hour – and it was 1,300 incidents higher than in the previous 12 months.Despite the number of thefts, only 169 suspects were charged in the year, and seven were let off with a caution.
