WATCH: Rare behind-the-scenes access as Mark White joins Flying Squad raid on phone theft gang

GB News

In this exclusive video for members, GB News Home and Security Editor Mark White gains rare behind-the-scenes access to the Met’s elite Flying Squad as they launch a coordinated dawn raid in southeast London. The operation targets a dangerous organised crime group suspected of robbing mobile phone shops across the capital, stealing high-value smartphones worth up to £100,000 per raid. With dramatic footage from inside the raid and expert insight into how police are fighting back against a surge in phone thefts, this is a gripping look at frontline policing in action.

Transcript

00:00Well morning folks, it's 4.45am, it's murderously early but we've come here to Bexley Police

00:09Station in South East London. The reason we're here this very early is for a dawn raid that's

00:16taking place around about six o'clock and it's a raid that is going to target an organised

00:22crime group. We'll be going after mobile phones, not just the thefts on the street of course

00:28that have been plaguing many people in communities around the country but what we're seeing now

00:35are these organised groups going into phone shops, smashing their way in, taking big boxes

00:40of phones in the back. Well this team of officers have just been briefed really about what they're

00:49likely to face. We're going to one address where we're told that two suspects are at that address.

00:56We're going to meet up shortly with other officers from the Covert Flying Squad team.

01:02Just how prolific was this organised crime group, how dangerous? Yeah really prolific. They have

01:08committed offences not just in London but across the UK and the home counties. They haven't

01:15used weapons in particular in this case but they have showed strength by going in in numbers

01:23to intimidate the staff and really just frightened people into submission. So the teams as you can

01:31see are just kitting up now to head to the location where this raid will take place. It's

01:36always with these things you just never know whether the suspects are going to be home. The intelligence

01:42is that yes they will be there so they're going to get a rude awakening about half an hour's time.

01:48How profitable is this trade? These are expensive pieces of equipment they're stealing.

01:54Absolutely, one iPhone can cost in the region of £1200. In some incidents they've stolen up to 72 handsets

02:03at a time so it's really really lucrative. So we're talking £100,000 a raid? Yes absolutely. It's high

02:11profit for them and really that's why the Flying Squad have got involved because of the impact on industry.

02:19Police open the door it's going in!

02:31Well it seems to have gone very well here. Just at the last minute they thought they were going to have

02:36to use the enforcer down here to smash the door in but the people inside were compliant. They opened the

02:43door so they're inside and what we're told is that the two suspects they were waiting for have actually

02:49been arrested so that's a result here. Another dozen addresses are being raided as well.

02:58The Flying Squad involved because of your specialist skills you bring the ability to in quick time be able

03:08to sort of delve into these investigations and and do this kind of multi-pronged big operation.

03:14Absolutely you know we can take a investigation at its early stages and see it right the way through.

03:21We can identify the offenders, we can work across borders not just in London but nationally.

03:27So we've got other forces coming into us with these crime types and we're taking them all in conjunction

03:34to link the series and then have this arrest day today. And how often are you seeing serious crimes

03:42that the Flying Squad deal with, how often are you seeing the thefts around mobile phones coming across your desk?

03:50Yes we're seeing them quite prolific at this time and we've got a number of jobs and we're working really

03:56closely with industry to identify and get the links and trends for these crime types. We've got a few

04:04that we're looking at at this time and we're really in this space. Well that was a result for the Flying

04:11Squad. These are rare access moments for us. I've never been in 25 years of being down in London out

04:18with the Flying Squad before. It was great to see them operating. They have arrested two members of this

04:25organised crime group here. Others have been rounded up at the other addresses as well.

04:31And you might think mobile phone thefts then why is the Flying Squad, this very serious detective

04:43organisation involved in that? Well when I tell you that an individual handset can be at least 1200 quid

04:50if it's the likes of an iPhone. If they go in as they have been doing and steal maybe 70 or so of these

04:58phones from a mobile phone stock shop. You're talking then basically of about £100,000 in each

05:06of these raids. So you can see this is big business that these criminal gangs are involved in and that's

05:12why the Flying Squad are involved and we're very grateful to them for allowing our JB News audience to

05:19see just exactly what they do in these complex investigations. Now the hard work of course begins

05:25for those detectives as they put the case together that they will eventually put before the courts.

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