26-05-2025
The fightback against London's phone snatchers: Police target brazen thieves with invisible DNA tagging spray as they warn 'we will catch you'
Police are targeting London 's phone snatchers with invisible DNA tagging spray as Scotland Yard fights back against the brazen thieves.
Officers hope that marking e-bikes, an increasingly popular mode of getaway for marauding robbers, will allow them to track, catch and prosecute suspects.
They are also spraying riders' clothes and skin with the invisible dye, which contains a unique DNA code only seen under UV light.
The substance, known as SelectaDNA, sticks on a target for several months allowing police to link them to a specific theft via thespecial code.
The innovative method is being introduced in various hotspots around the country including London, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Scotland.
Inspector Dan Jones, who leads the Watford neighbourhood policing team in Hertfordshire, told The Telegraph: 'It's another tool in our box of tactics to make it increasingly difficult for criminals to operate.
'The spray will enable us to identify those responsible without the need to engage in risky high-speed pursuits.
'We want this to serve as a warning to those involved – expect a knock on the door, because we will catch up with you.
Phone and bag thefts are increasingly blighting the capital and beyond, rising by 70 per cent nationally over the last year and soaring to a 20-year high, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
And electric bikes are frequently used as escape vehicles thanks to their ability to reach high speeds.
The pilot of SelectaDNA spray is set to last six months before the results are evaluated.
Business owners are also being handed kits in targeted Hertfordshire locations in a bid to protect their equipment and products.
The substance has been used previously to enforce domestic abuse restraining orders, through use in victims' homes or by being handed to the victims themselves so they can spray at their abuser if they breach the orders.
The Met has also used SelectaDNA in shops to clamp down on shoplifters.
It comes after Met Police officers seized more than 1,000 stolen phones and arrested 230 people in a week-long blitz earlier this year.
They carried out the targeted operation as the force ramps up its bid to bring an end to the marauding phone thieves who prowl around the city on e-bikes and mopeds.
During one arrest in north-east London, a 15-year-old boy riding an illegal e-bike was found with a 'large' knife and £1,000 in cash.
An increase in patrols and operations have been carried out in hotspot areas, including the West End and Westminster, where the Met says nearly 40 per cent of phone thefts occur.
Officers have used plain-clothes tactics and victims' reports to snare a gang who were caught handling more than 5,000 stolen phones.
Over an 18-month period, Zakaria Senadjki, 31, Ahmed Abdelhakim Belhanafi, 25, Nazih Cheraitia, 34, and Riyadh Mamouni, 25, were at the centre of the terrifying trend of gadget grabbing sweeping the capital.
Their crimes totalled a whopping £5.1million, an investigation by the Met Police found - with many of the devices believed to have been sold abroad.
The four men were all jailed in November last year to a combined total of 18 years behind bars.
The fightback appears to be working and, in recent months, 'various operations' deployed by the police force involving monitoring CCTV footage, increasing officers' awareness and 'employing' traffic units and surge teams have brought about a decrease in phone theft.
A 27 per cent decrease was recorded in November 2024 while, in an even more promising statistic, a 43 per cent decrease was achieved the following month.
'There's been various operations by different proactive teams specifically towards two-wheel enabled crime,' a video posted by the Met Police on X announced.
'And also just officers on the ground being more aware of it happening and going on the radio. CCTV operators shouting out before they commit offences so we can get the necessary units with the skills down.
'If a phone pings on a certain location of the map, we can plot the route that they're taking and where they end up, and then hopefully find out where those phones are going.'
Westminster, London's most affected borough, saw 18,863 reported incidents in 2024 up until December.
The Met Police though, insist that 'really, really good' CCTV coverage in the posh London borough will be influential in stopping gangs of thieves snatching devices,
'There's CCTV cameras, one of the things in this borough (Westminster), they're actually really, really good quality and we do have quite a lot of coverage,' the video posted on February 7 continued.
'We employ the use of traffic units and SURGE (Surge and Rapid Response Team) teams and they have high driving skills and the ability to - if there is a high risk - knock them off the bikes.
'Sometimes they (the thieves) do carry large weapons so it's about immediate control of the arms, immediate control of the hands, and making sure you have sufficient units around you to support.
'Between the actual offender doing a snatch, being monitored by CCTV operators and National Police Air Support, in their travels, they are being followed the whole time until police units can catch up and detain them and arrest them.'
Last week, Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike revealed she was punched in the face and had her mobile phone snatched violently out of her hand by a 'mugger' on a bicycle.
The James Bond actress, 46, spoke of her '15 minutes' of hell when she was targeted by the thief in 2006 as she spoke to her mother while walking down the street.
She said she screamed in terror and her mum, Caroline Friend, was left fearing the worst until she was able to call her back on another phone.
Rosamund, who starred with Piers Brosnan in Die Another Day (2002), told Magic Radio: 'I was on the phone to my mother — on a mobile phone walking along a road — and I was mugged.
'The phone was snatched so all she heard was me scream and a thud and the phone went dead.'
She said the 'mugger' was a kid who sped past her on a bicycle and punched her down the side of her cheek.
Rosamund, who was born in London, said the thief took her mobile phone and left her with a bruise on her face.
The actress is one of a number of celebs who have fallen victim to the terrifying trend.
Former tennis star Annabel Croft said her mobile was stolen 'clean out of her hands' while she waited for a taxi outside London King's Cross station in June last year.
Ms Croft wrote on Instagram: 'I just wanted to warn people who are on their own in London. I just got mugged waiting for a taxi outside King's Cross St Pancreas.
'The man was riding a bike and wearing a black balaclava. He rode straight at me and took my phone clean out of my hands.
'He rode away with it but luckily dropped my phone so I got it back. Terrifying!'
Meanwhile, TV presenter Kym Marsh also had her phone swiped from her hand on a London street in March.
Speaking to her co-host Gethin Jones on BBC's Morning Live, she said: 'It is quite a scary thing to happen to you, you're walking down a road and then all of a sudden something's taken out of your hand.
'And that was about a fortnight ago that was taken from me. But thankfully I was okay.'
