Four men including one from Acton have been jailed for handling more than 5,000 stolen phones.
According to the Metropolitan Police, during 18 months the gang transferred thousands of pounds from some victims as well as using the phones to make payments for designer clothes. In total around £5.1m was spent.
The men sentenced were:
Nazih Cheraitia, 34 of Wales Farm Road, Acton was convicted of conspiracy to receive stolen goods and possess/control ID document with improper intention. He was sentenced to three years and five months.
Zakaria Senadjki, 31 of Dartmouth Close, Notting Hill was convicted of conspiracy to receive stolen goods, conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and possessing/controlling ID with improper intention. He was sentenced to eight years.
Ahmed Abdelhakim Belhanafi, 25 of Dartmouth Close, Notting Hill was convicted of conspiracy to receive stolen goods and conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, and was sentenced to four years and eight months.
Riyadh Mamouni, 25 (06.01.99) of Dartmouth Close, Notting Hill was convicted of conspiracy to receive stolen goods and sentenced to two years and eight months.
The gang were tracked down by police officers from Lambeth and Southwark after victims of theft and robbery reported they had tracked their stolen devices to two main London addresses.
The Met’s Operation Ringtone used tracking devices in phones to be able to locate stolen items and following the successful investigation by local officers, warrants took place in the early hours of 26 February 2024.
Commander Owain Richards, from the Metropolitan Police, said: “I want to commend the borough based local officers involved for their excellent work in tracking down these individuals and ensuring they were brought to justice.
“We do not underestimate the impact these crimes have on Londoners and are doing all we can to tackle phone thefts. This includes increased policing in hotspot areas and making better use of technology.
“However we need the phone companies to play their part and make it more difficult for criminals to re-sell these stolen devices. The Met will be speaking with them in the coming weeks to push this issue even further.”
