In what may be called a transatlantic criminal network, Nigerian gangs are making millions from phones snatched in the United Kingdom and shipped 4,500 miles to Nigeria, a report has said.
The report, a result of an investigation by The Sun UK, said thugs on Mopeds – a light motorcycle with an engine capacity of not more than 50 cc – are snatching tens of thousands of phones on UK streets to supply a booming black market run by crime lords in Nigeria.
The reports claimed the stolen phones are sold for N283, 663 [about £560] in Nigeria’s black market, especially Lagos.
The rise in the MOPED snatching of mobile phones has got MPs in the UK worried. Moreso as Nigeria has not signed up to a global deal blacklisting stolen phones, British moped gangs are able to keep the crime bosses supplied by exporting tens of thousands of snatched mobiles.
According to The Sun, Tory MP Bob Neill, chairman of the Commons Justice Committee, said:
“This is a very serious matter. We’ve seen an increase in moped crimes across the UK.
“The police need to take these crimes more seriously and make investigating them a higher priority. And sentences need to reflect that this is serious organised crime which should attract tougher penalties.”
Fellow Tory Andrew Percy said:
“It is truly shocking to think that violent attacks here in the UK are being used to make black marketeers in other parts of the world wealthy.”
In 2016 there were 446,000 UK phone thefts. In London alone there were 60,000 mobile thefts and robberies, almost two-thirds of them iPhones.
In the 12 months to June 2017, the Met recorded 16,158 phone crimes related to mopeds, more than three times those reported in the year to June 2016.
The Sun said it witnessed the end of the chain at the sprawling “Computer Village” market in the Lagos suburb of Ikeja.
Multiple stores offered “UK phones and accessories” and “UK used phones at affordable prices.”
The Sun said,
Traders we questioned insisted their merchandise was from reputable sources. A seller at Emeka Michael EB International Shop said: “Most of our phones are London used.”
We found iPhones at sale for £560 — £310 cheaper than the authorised Apple dealer’s price. Another store in Computer Village offered an iPhone 6 for £230.
