// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
How 'largest phone smuggling network' was uncovered
Police arrested Amir Muhammad Khadikhel and Ismat Miakhel in September 2025
It started with a single stolen mobile phone, found inside a sealed parcel, inside a warehouse near Heathrow airport.
It ended in police dismantling what detectives believe to be the UK's largest phone smuggling network.
The device had been electronically tracked to the warehouse not by officers, but by a victim who had it stolen from them just before Christmas in 2024 and alerted the DHL courier company.
"The phone was ringing in the package," explains Commander Andy Featherstone, the Metropolitan police's lead on mobile phone theft.
"It was still on. Which is very unusual in these circumstances, because they tend to be wrapped up, so the signal isn't working. But in this case it was."
Stolen phones are often wrapped in aluminium foil in order to block wireless signals and prevent the devices from being tracked.
When police were called to investigate, they found more than 800 devices, packaged in batches of five, stacked into nine boxes, some wrapped in foil, others in bubble wrap.
All were stolen and they were destined to be shipped to Hong Kong.
A major inquiry known as Operation Echosteep was launched, with detectives who specialise in investigating armed robberies and drug smuggling brought in to track down suspects.