How 'largest phone smuggling network' was uncovered
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Police arrested Amir Muhammad Khadikhel and Ismat Miakhel in September 2025 It started with a single stolen mobile phone, found inside a sealed parcel, inside a warehouse near Heathrow airport.
警方于 2025 年 9 月逮捕了 Amir Muhammad Khadikhel 和 Ismat Miakhel 案件始于一部被盗的手机，在希思罗机场附近的一个仓库内的一个密封包裹中被发现。
It ended in police dismantling what detectives believe to be the UK's largest phone smuggling network.
最终警方捣毁了侦探认为是英国最大的手机走私网络。
The device had been electronically tracked to the warehouse not by officers, but by a victim who had it stolen from them just before Christmas in 2024 and alerted the DHL courier company.
该设备不是由警察而是由一名受害者通过电子方式追踪到仓库的，受害者在 2024 年圣诞节前夕将其从仓库中偷走，并向 DHL 快递公司发出了警报。
"The phone was ringing in the package," explains Commander Andy Featherstone, the Metropolitan police's lead on mobile phone theft.
“包裹里的电话响了，”大都会警察局手机盗窃案负责人、指挥官安迪·费瑟斯通 (Andy Featherstone) 解释道。
"It was still on.
“它还开着。
Which is very unusual in these circumstances, because they tend to be wrapped up, so the signal isn't working. But in this case it was." Stolen phones are often wrapped in aluminium foil in order to block wireless signals and prevent the devices from being tracked.
在这些情况下这是非常不寻常的，因为它们往往被包裹起来，所以信号不起作用。 但在这种情况下确实如此。” 被盗的手机通常用铝箔包裹，以阻挡无线信号并防止设备被跟踪。
When police were called to investigate, they found more than 800 devices, packaged in batches of five, stacked into nine boxes, some wrapped in foil, others in bubble wrap.
当警方被叫去调查时，他们发现了 800 多台设备，每批 5 台，堆放在 9 个盒子里，一些用箔纸包裹，另一些用泡沫包装纸包裹。
All were stolen and they were destined to be shipped to Hong Kong.
全部被盗，注定要运往香港。
A major inquiry known as Operation Echosteep was launched, with detectives who specialise in investigating armed robberies and drug smuggling brought in to track down suspects.
一项名为“Echosteep 行动”的重大调查启动了，专门调查武装抢劫和毒品走私的侦探们开始追捕嫌疑人。
Further shipments were intercepted and officers used forensics on the packages to identify two men, who were placed under surveillance.
更多的货物被拦截，官员们对包裹进行了取证，确认了两名男子的身份，并将他们置于监视之下。
Police say the investigation began after a victim tracked down their mobile phone to a warehouse and heard it ringing inside a parcel In September 2025, police stopped a car being driven through Waltham Forest and arrested Amir Muhammad Khadikhel and Ismat Miakhel.
警方表示，一名受害者在仓库找到手机，并听到包裹内的手机铃声后开始调查。 2025 年 9 月，警方拦截了一辆驶过沃尔瑟姆森林的汽车，并逮捕了阿米尔·穆罕默德·哈迪克尔 (Amir Muhammad Khadikhel) 和伊斯马特·米阿赫尔 (Ismat Miakhel)。
Inside, they discovered several phones strewn around the back seat, with others on the floor wrapped in foil.
在车内，他们发现后座周围散落着几部手机，还有一些手机放在地板上，用箔纸包裹着。
Both men were found wearing necklaces featuring pins to remove the handsets' Sim cards.
两人被发现都戴着项链，项链上有别针，可以用来取下手机的 SIM 卡。
Police say about 2,000 more devices were discovered at properties linked to them.
警方称，在与这些设备有关的房产中还发现了大约 2,000 个设备。
Southwark Crown Court heard that one shop, Roshan Fruit and Nuts, on Lea Bridge Road in Leyton, east London, had been used to store the stolen phones.
南华克刑事法庭获悉，位于伦敦东部莱顿 Lea Bridge 路的一家名为 Roshan Fruit and Nuts 的商店被用来存放被盗的手机。
Police found a trapdoor, leading to a basement where boxes labelled as containing dried goods held packages of phones wrapped up in foil, as well as £44,665 in cash.
警方发现了一扇通向地下室的活板门，里面贴着干货标签的盒子里装着用箔纸包裹的手机包，以及 44,665 英镑的现金。
In another property, the court heard stolen phones had been found stored inside the microwave.
法庭获悉，在另一处房产中，微波炉内发现了被盗的手机。
Prosecutor Karen Robinson KC said the men had played a "leading role" in a "sophisticated and criminal network" that had seen more than 5,000 phones seized by police, with a value in the UK of around £5.5m.
检察官Karen Robinson KC表示，这些人在一个“复杂的犯罪网络”中发挥了“主导作用”，警方在该网络中查获了5000多部手机，在英国的价值约为550万英镑。
The court heard Khadikhel had fled Afghanistan in 2019 and travelled to the UK as an asylum seeker.
法庭获悉，哈迪克尔于 2019 年逃离阿富汗，并以寻求庇护者的身份前往英国。
A third man, Mansoor Mohammed, who came to the UK from India on a visa in 2019, was also identified as being involved in the handling of devices.
第三名男子曼苏尔·穆罕默德 (Mansoor Mohammed) 于 2019 年持签证从印度来到英国，也被确定参与了设备的处理。
From left: Amir Muhammad Khadikhel, Ismat Miakhel and Mansoor Mohammed Khadikhel, 35, from Wanstead, and Miakhel, 33, from Walthamstow, along with Mohammed, 30, from Wood Green, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to handle stolen goods and participating in criminal activities of an organised crime group.
左起：阿米尔·穆罕默德·哈迪克尔、伊斯马特·米阿赫尔和曼苏尔·穆罕默德 35 岁的哈迪克尔（Khadikhel），来自旺斯特德（Wanstead），33 岁的米亚赫尔（Miakhel），来自沃尔瑟姆斯托（Walthamstow），以及 30 岁的穆罕默德（Wood Green），于 4 月份承认共谋处理赃物和参与有组织犯罪集团的犯罪活动。
Khadikhel and Miakhel also admitted to conspiracy to remove stolen goods.
哈迪克尔和米阿赫尔也承认密谋转移赃物。
On Friday, Judge Adam Hiddleston sentenced Khadikhel to nine-and-a-half years' imprisonment, Miakhel to nine years' imprisonment and Mohammed to six-and-a-half years' imprisonment.
周五，亚当·希德勒斯顿法官判处哈迪克尔九年半监禁，米阿赫尔九年监禁，穆罕默德六年半监禁。
The judge said the offending had been on an "enormous scale financially" and the criminality was "highly organised and sophisticated".
法官表示，该犯罪行为“经济规模巨大”，犯罪行为“高度有组织且复杂”。
Commander Andy Featherstone says phone snatchers are being recruited over social media and paid hundreds of pounds for each device The prosecutor added that phone smuggling in London was "prolific" and a "very significant societal problem".
指挥官安迪·费瑟斯通 (Andy Featherstone) 表示，正在通过社交媒体招募手机抢夺者，并为每台设备支付数百英镑 检察官补充说，伦敦的手机走私活动“猖獗”，是一个“非常严重的社会问题”。
Police suspect the network was responsible for smuggling up to 40,000 phones during 2024 and 2025, exporting them to China.
警方怀疑该网络在 2024 年和 2025 年期间走私了多达 40,000 部手机，并将其出口到中国。
It is the equivalent of around 40% of all devices stolen in London at that time.
这相当于当时伦敦被盗所有设备的 40% 左右。
Featherstone says that wider group has "many layers in its hierarchy", with handlers recruiting street thieves via social media and advertising how much they were willing to pay them per stolen device.
费瑟斯通表示，这个更广泛的组织“有很多层次”，处理人员通过社交媒体招募街头小偷，并宣传他们愿意为每台被盗设备支付多少钱。
"So a modern device, or the most recent phone that had been released, would fetch a higher premium - in most cases around the £500 mark," he explains.
“因此，一款现代设备，或者最新发布的手机，价格会更高，大多数情况下约为 500 英镑，”他解释道。
"This network were collecting phones all across London from street thieves, and then they would take those phones in, and when they had enough they would then package them up and ship them out of the UK into China." Saira Pike, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Phone theft is more than just a financial loss as it involves victims losing personal data, precious pictures or memories and their sense of security.
“这个网络正在伦敦各地从街头小偷那里收集手机，然后他们会把这些手机拿走，当他们有足够的时候，他们就会把它们包装起来，然后将它们从英国运到中国。” 英国皇家检察署的塞拉·派克 (Saira Pike) 表示：“手机盗窃不仅仅是经济损失，还涉及受害者失去个人数据、珍贵照片或记忆以及安全感。
"Amir Khadikhel, Ismat Miakhel and Mansoor Mohammed were at the heart of a sophisticated organised crime operation that profited from the misery of victims who had their mobile phones stolen across London."
“阿米尔·哈迪克尔、伊斯马特·米阿赫尔和曼苏尔·穆罕默德是一个复杂的有组织犯罪行动的核心人物，该犯罪行动从伦敦各地手机被盗受害者的痛苦中获利。”
Police say children are often recruited over social media to steal phones.
警方表示，儿童经常通过社交媒体被招募来偷手机。
Featherstone tells me one 14-year-old boy was stopped by officers with around 20 stolen phones on him, something he could potentially receive thousands of pounds for in a single day.
Featherstone 告诉我，一名 14 岁男孩被警察拦住，身上带着大约 20 部偷来的手机，一天之内他可能会收到数千英镑。
"Some of these devices, particularly iPhones, can fetch up to £5,000 in China and Hong Kong.
“其中一些设备，尤其是 iPhone，在中国和香港的售价高达 5,000 英镑。
The reason being that they can work on the internet without any type of restriction," Featherstone said.
原因是他们可以在互联网上工作而不受任何类型的限制，”费瑟斯通说。
"This was a global operation, millions of pounds involved, because of the value of these devices."
“由于这些设备的价值，这是一项全球行动，涉及数百万英镑。”
Police say the network was responsible for smuggling up to 40,000 stolen phones out of the UK The Met says it has made 14 arrests connected to Operation Echosteep, seized more than £250,000 in cash and recovered more than 10,000 stolen phones, though the number of victims reunited with their devices is lower, at more than 1,000.
警方称该网络负责将多达 40,000 部被盗手机走私出英国 大都会表示，已逮捕了 14 名与 Echosteep 行动有关的人，缴获了超过 25 万英镑现金，并追回了 10,000 多部被盗手机，不过与手机重聚的受害者人数较少，只有 1,000 多人。
It has been using electric bikes, drones and live facial recognition to target street thieves. The number of recorded mobile phone thefts and robberies fell to 62,029 in the year ending August 2026, compared to 78,344 for the same period the previous year - a drop of 20%.
它一直在使用电动自行车、无人机和实时面部识别来打击街头小偷。 截至 2026 年 8 月的一年，记录在案的手机盗窃和抢劫案件数量降至 62,029 起，而上年同期为 78,344 起，下降了 20%。
In the borough of Westminster, which has the highest rate of phone theft of any London borough, 672 phone thefts and robberies were recorded last month, the equivalent of around 21 a day.
威斯敏斯特区是伦敦电话盗窃率最高的行政区，上个月记录了 672 起电话盗窃和抢劫案，相当于每天约 21 起。
Featherstone acknowledges the numbers are still "too high", saying: "This is where we need assistance from industry, because this cannot be resolved by arrests and prosecutions and we need assistance from industry to design this problem out."
费瑟斯通承认这个数字仍然“太高”，他说：“这就是我们需要行业援助的地方，因为这不能通过逮捕和起诉来解决，我们需要行业的帮助来解决这个问题。”
In June, the Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he had written to the Home Secretary asking for legislation to make phone companies publish data on stolen devices and whether they are reconnected, and to enforce measures to make stolen devices "unusable bricks".
6月，大都会警察局长马克·罗利爵士表示，他已写信给内政大臣，要求立法让电话公司公布被盗设备的数据以及这些设备是否重新连接，并强制执行措施，使被盗设备成为“无用的砖头”。
The force said it had started sharing data with Apple to more closely track whether stolen handsets get reconnected to a phone network after they are taken.
警方表示，已开始与苹果公司共享数据，以更密切地追踪被盗手机在被盗后是否重新连接到电话网络。
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