Police say they have dismantled an international gang suspected of smuggling up to 40,000 stolen mobile phones from the UK to China in the past year, writes BBC.

“In what the Metropolitan Police says is the UK"s largest ever operation against phone thefts, 18 suspects have been arrested and more than 2,000 stolen devices discovered.

Police believe the gang could be responsible for exporting up to half of all phones stolen in London, where most mobiles are taken in the UK.

BBC News has been given access to the operation, including details of the suspects, their methods, and to raids on 28 properties in London and Hertfordshire.

The investigation was triggered after a victim traced a stolen phone last year.

“It was actually on Christmas Eve and a victim electronically tracked their stolen iPhone to a warehouse near Heathrow Airport”, Detective Inspector Mark Gavin said. “The security there was eager to help out and they found the phone was in a box, among another 894 phones”.

Officers discovered almost all the phones had been stolen and in this case were being shipped to Hong Kong. Further shipments were then intercepted and officers used forensics on the packages to identify two men.

As the investigation homed in on the two men, police bodycam footage captured officers, some with Tasers drawn, carrying out a dramatic mid-road interception of a car. Inside, officers found devices wrapped in foil - an attempt by offenders to transport stolen devices undetected”.