Ten people have been arrested as part of a police investigation into a string of robberies at phone shops.
Detectives have been trying to identify an organised crime gang believed to be behind 13 robberies in London and across the south and east of England.
Eight men, aged between 20 and 31, and two 17-year-old boys were arrested at addresses in London and later charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and remanded in custody, the Metropolitan Police said.
Staff at the shops were said to have been threatened by individuals who “often had their faces covered and were sometimes armed with weapons”, police added.
The robberies happened between February and early June and were part of a “concerted effort to steal phones and sell them overseas”, detectives said.
Thousands of pounds worth of new phones were taken from secure rooms at stores in what police described as “similar incidents”.
Police said the robberies were reported at shops in Staines, Ilford, Hackney, Huntingdon, Orpington, East Grinstead, Alton, Clacton-on-Sea, Horsham, St Alban’s, Ipswich, Stamford and Eastleigh.
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Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier said: “Phone robbery has boomed globally, and London is not immune.
“There is a concerted effort by criminal gangs to steal phones and sell them overseas as part of a multi-million-pound industry.
“The Met is catching more of these criminals and operations such as this are vital to disrupting offenders who cause fear and misery to shop workers and communities.”
