Out with officers tackling phone snatching in London
The UK is the phone snatching capital of Europe
Last updated 27th Aug 2025
The Metropolitan Police says it's taking the issue of phone snatching seriously after arresting members of an alleged phone snatching criminal gang.
Officers in south west London carried out raids in the early hours of this morning as they crack down on phone snatching in the Capital.
Met Acting Inspector Ben Hobbs told us he understands why many Londoners are worried about having their phone's stolen.
"Many Londoners have seen it happen. Many Londoners have been victimised themselves.
"The viral clips we have seen, the violence that has been used I know will cause fear and alarm amongst people in London. I don't like the idea of them being frightened and worried.
"It's one thing being sensible with your property, but its another to feel like you're in danger just walking along the street".
Officers raided a property at around 7am this morning. Around 15 minutes later, police emerged with a teenage suspect in handcuffs.
Inspector Hobbs said
"I think it's important that people have trust in their police officers. I am really proud to be a part of an operation that increases that trust.
"We are here to protect the people of London and that is what we are trying to do
"Operations like this are always going to hopefully help that and hopefully that can feed into the broader policing image in London and people can see that their police officers are trying".
The Inspector had this word of advice for anyone wanting to confront any phone snatchers themselves.
"I wouldn't suggest physically getting involved as we have seen the type of violence that some of these offenders are capable of.
"If you are able to retain evidence yourself whether that's being a really good witness, providing an accurate description or any information about what happened immediately afterwards, which direction they went in, that's going to be immediately invaluable.