Three major ringleaders of the UK’s largest mobile phone smuggling network have been sentenced to a combined 25 years in prison, following a landmark investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

Three major ringleaders of the UK’s largest mobile phone smuggling network have been sentenced to a combined 25 years in prison, following a landmark investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

The gang was responsible for trafficking up to 40,000 stolen mobile phones—valued in the millions of pounds—from the streets of London to mainland China and Hong Kong.

The Sentenced Ringleaders

The three men appeared for sentencing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, September 25, 2026, after pleading guilty earlier in April:

• Amir Muhammad Kadakel (also cited as Cardal)
• Ismat Mikl (also cited as Mikkel)
• Mansour Muhammad

Details of the Operation

• The Scale: The criminal enterprise accounted for roughly 40% of all mobile phone thefts in London across 2024 and 2025.
• The Takedown: Known as Operation Echosteep, the long-running covert investigation originally culminated in dozens of raids and up to 46 arrests. The network was first exposed when a victim tracked their stolen phone to a shipping warehouse near Heathrow Airport, where police uncovered a box containing nearly 1,000 illicit devices hidden in tin foil to block GPS tracking signals.
• Street to International Pipeline: The operation mapped out the entire supply chain, connecting opportunistic street-level thieves (often operating on e-bikes) to the localized handlers, who used converted cars as "mobile chop shops" to disable devices before exporting them to international buyers.

The Metropolitan Police reported that targeted crackdowns on street-level snatching have successfully cut London phone thefts by roughly a fifth over the last year