Mobile phones recovered after a chase ended up in Belsize Park

IT is a crime which has almost become part of life some parts of Camden: an unsuspecting victim watches in despair as an expensive phone snatched is from their hands by a bandit on a powered bike.

And the response for anybody who reports one of the flash muggings is usually an unhelpful retrospective warning that they should keep always their devices in their pockets.

But as the cases mount up, police said this week that they had shown that phone snatching was a top priority after bringing out a helicopter to chase a suspected thief.

A teenager was arrested with 16 mobile phone after the pursuit during the Thursday morning rush hour.

Officers said they had been identified as stolen and are being returned to their owners.

An initial theft had been reported in the Euston area with the chopper chase then heading north to a property in Belsize Park where the devices were discovered alongside an electric motorcycle, £1,000 in cash and a quantity of cannabis.

Inspector John Wilde said: “This arrest shows what we are doing to deal with theft and robbery offences, including by offenders riding bikes, e-bikes and mopeds.

“We are constantly building intelligence, linking offences and working to establish who might be responsible, and we are responding to robberies at pace. “These tactics, among others, are enabling us to get significant results like this, recovering stolen goods and drugs, and arresting those we suspect of committing offences.”

The teenager has been bailed as investigations continue.

The scourge of phone snatching has grown over the past six years with police using tactics to knock suspects of their bikes and imposing road blocks.

Devices can be quickly smuggled out of the country for quick profit and victims often see from tracking software that they have been taken abroad within days or even hours.

There have also been cases of banking software on a phone being compromised.

Over the past few months, phones have also been snatched from tube users just as underground train doors are closing.