187 arrested in London operation against street thefts
In London, UK, police arrested 187 people during an operation targeting people who use electric bicycles and mopeds for street thefts. Officers also seized 157 vehicles in Westminster, The National reports.
Operation in Westminster
According to police, the arrests involved, among other things, possession of dangerous weapons, drug-related offences, as well as robberies and thefts. The operation targeted people known to police or linked to previous incidents.
Among them was a 17-year-old boy with a knife who, according to police, was pursued and arrested while riding a moped. The moped was linked to a suspected phone theft that had occurred earlier that morning.
Officers were also searching for a 22-year-old man in connection with robberies. According to police, he struck an officer while trying to flee on an illegal electric bicycle. During a search, police found several stolen mobile phones wrapped in foil, which may have been an attempt to prevent them from being tracked.
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Results of police work
Police officers on bicycles tracked stolen phones using tracking data and pursued suspects in crowded areas of the city. London's Metropolitan Police increased its fleet of powerful Sur-Ron electric bicycles from five to 25.
In Lambeth, Southwark, and near the transport and tourist hubs of Waterloo and London Bridge, the number of e-bike-related crimes fell by 22% during the operation from February to July.
Detective Superintendent Gareth Gilbert, who led the operation, said targeted measures help police counter criminals who use powerful bicycles or mopeds for thefts. According to him, crime in London boroughs fell by 14% over the past year, while the number of phone thefts decreased by 13,000.
Since the beginning of 2026, police have also seized more than 2,500 illegal electric bicycles and electric scooters. According to police, as part of the broader effort against personal theft and robbery, thefts of personal belongings and mobile phones in London decreased by 15.6%, while robberies fell by 12.8%.
