Three men have been jailed for running what police described as the UK’s largest mobile phone smuggling network. Amir Khadikhel, Ismat Miakhel and Mansoor Mohammed admitted handling tens of thousands of phones stolen across Britain and exporting them to China, Dubai and the Middle East. Khadikhel received nine and a half years, Miakhel nine years and Mohammed six and a half years, with the judge describing the operation as highly organised and financially enormous.

The gang was linked to the trafficking of more than 62,000 stolen iPhones valued at £181 million, with shipments sent twice weekly through DHL and UPS. Police began Operation Echosteep after a victim traced her stolen phone to a shipment containing 865 devices near Heathrow; investigators later seized more than 5,000 phones worth £5.5 million, along with £44,665 in cash. Street thieves reportedly received up to £300 per phone, while devices were resold overseas for as much as £3,700.