Three jailed over trafficking stolen devices as part of UK's 'largest mobile phone smuggling network'

Three men jailed after being part of the UK's "largest mobile phone smuggling network" trafficked thousands of stolen devices out of the country, a court heard.

Amir Khadikhel, 35, Ismat Miakhel, 33, and Mansoor Mohammed, 30, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods and participating in criminal activities of an organised crime group.

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Judge Adam Hiddleston sentenced Khadikhel to nine and a half years in prison, Miakhel to nine years, and Mohammed to six and a half years.

He said at Southwark Crown Court the offending was on an "enormous scale financially" and the criminality was "highly organised and sophisticated".

The court heard that officers seized more than 5,000 phones - mostly iPhones - worth £5.5 million after an investigation into the trio.

Prosecutors added that the men were part of a "sophisticated and organised criminal network" which facilitated the export of stolen devices out of the UK.

Street thieves were paid up to £300 per stolen device, detectives found, which were then sold for as much as $5,000 (£3,777) in China.

Khadikhel, an Afghan asylum seeker, and Miakhel, of The Drive, Walthamstow, had also previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to remove stolen goods.

Prosecutors told the court that the Metropolitan Police started their probe into Khadikhel, Miakhel and Mohammed in December 2024, after boxes with hundreds of phones being shipped to Hong Kong were found at a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.

The devices were wrapped in tin foil, which can block mobile and WiFi signals, and were found after a phone theft victim contacted DHL reporting they tracked their stolen device to the firm's site near the airport.

Officers discovered that almost all of the phones in the boxes had been stolen, resulting in the launch of Operation Echosteep - what was described as the UK's biggest ever crackdown on phone theft.

The force described the defendants as part of the "UK's largest mobile phone smuggling network".

Prosecutors also said that officers searched Roshan Dry Fruits and Nuts on Lea Bridge Road in September last year and found it to be a "storage location to which both Khadikhel and Miakhel could be linked".

Officers found an open "trap door" in the shop that led to a basement, which held smartphones wrapped in tin foil as well as £44,665 in cash.

Khadikhel and Miakhel were then arrested in September 2025, while both were wearing a necklace with a SIM card extractor device attached

Officers also said Miakhel's phone was found to contain messages between December 2024 and May 2025 regarding payments totalling £243,050 to those providing stolen phones.

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The court also heard that Khadikhel had previously been arrested in March 2022 for handling stolen goods after officers found him in possession of 14 phones while wrapping devices in kitchen foil.

In a statement on its website, Commander Andy Featherstone, the Met's lead for tackling mobile phone theft, said: "Today's sentences send a clear message: if you steal phones, we'll come after you."

Saira Pike, of the Crown Prosecution Service, added that the three "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".

(c) Sky News 2026: Three jailed over trafficking stolen devices as part of UK's 'largest mobile phone smugglin