Met chief urges law forcing firms to publish stolen-phone data
Sir Mark Rowley pressed ministers to force phone firms to publish stolen-device data as London thefts hit 117,211 in 2024 and traffickers moved as many as 40,000 phones to China.
Sir Mark Rowley has asked Yvette Cooper to bring in legislation that would force phone companies to publish data on stolen devices and reconnections. The Metropolitan Police commissioner says mobile phone theft has become a global organised crime business, and that policing alone cannot break it if stolen handsets still fetch high prices overseas.
Rowley’s warning follows a sharp rise in London thefts. Met figures show 91,481 mobile phone thefts in 2019, 55,820 in 2020, 63,777 in 2021, 90,810 in 2022, 115,261 in 2023 and 117,211 in 2024. The force said thefts fell by 12 per cent across London in 2025, about 10,000 fewer victims, while a recent four-week crackdown led to 248 arrests.
The argument for tougher action is rooted in how quickly stolen phones can move through the market. The Met says devices taken on London streets can be exported, reactivated and resold overseas within days, sometimes for more than their new price in the UK. That is why the force wants technology companies to help make stolen phones unusable anywhere in the world, cutting off the resale value that fuels the theft economy.
The issue has already reached government. On 6 February 2025, the Home Secretary brought together policing leaders, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London and major tech firms to push new action against phone theft. MPs later took evidence from the Met, technology experts and representatives from Apple, Google and Samsung. The House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee then told the Home Secretary that, in its view, phone theft can be designed out.
The scale of the criminal trade is illustrated by a major Met investigation announced in April 2026. Officers said a smuggling network trafficked up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China in 2024 and 2025, accounting for around 40 per cent of all phones stolen in London during that period. The inquiry began in December 2024 after a box of about 1,000 iPhones bound for Hong Kong was found near Heathrow Airport. The operation led to 14 arrests, the recovery of more than 10,000 stolen iPhones, the seizure of over £250,000 in illicit cash and the reunion of more than 1,000 victims with their phones.
The latest step came on 11 June 2026, when the Met and Apple announced a new agreement to strengthen security, share stolen-device identifiers and build a joint intelligence picture of how phones move through the market. The Met said early data from the collaboration showed a significant number of stolen phones in a recent sample were not successfully reactivated, reducing their value to criminals. Rowley wants the industry to go further, with published data that would expose which firms are blocking reuse and which are still leaving stolen devices profitable.
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