Afghan asylum seeker masterminded £181million phone smuggling operation shipping stolen devices out of the UK to China and Dubai - as gang are jailed for 25 years

An Afghan asylum seeker who was the mastermind behind Britain's 'largest mobile phone smuggling network' that shipped £181million worth of stolen devices has been jailed. Amir Khadikhel, 35, together with compatriot Ismat Miakhel, 33 and Indian Mansoor Mohammed, 30, admitted receiving tens of thousands of handsets stolen by phone snatchers across Britain. At Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Khadikhel, of Eastway in Wanstead, was sentenced to nine and a half years' imprisonment, while Miakhel was jailed for nine years and Mohammed handed a prison term of six and a half years.Judge Adam Hiddleston, sentencing, described their offending as on an 'enormous scale financially' and labelled the gang's criminality as 'highly organised and sophisticated'.The men were responsible for almost half the phones stolen in London at the peak of their powers - and sent thousands of devices to the same high-rise block in Hong Kong that was infiltrated by Mail reporters in July last year. More than 5,000 phones worth £5.5million were seized following an investigation into the defendants, a sentencing hearing for the men at Southwark Crown Court heard. Street thieves were paid up to £300 per handset and the gang sold them on to the Middle East and the Far East for as much as $5,000 (£3,700). Khadikhel masterminded the smuggling operation transporting over 62,000 stolen iPhones, worth £181 million to China and Dubai, making two huge shipments a week via DHL and UPS. (l-r) Amir Muhammad Khadikhel, Ismat Maikhel and Mansoor Mohammed, all based in London and in their thirties, pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 62,000 stolen devices to China in the last year Body worn footage issued shows the the arrest of Ismat Miakhel Afghan national Khadikhel was arrested by police in September last yearThe three defendants previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods and participating in criminal activities of an organised crime group. The Metropolitan Police said the defendants were part of the 'UK's largest mobile phone smuggling network', adding it was responsible for trafficking thousands of stolen devices to China. The force's investigation started in December 2024 when boxes being shipped to Hong Kong containing 865 smartphones wrapped in tin foil, which can block mobile and WIFI signals, were found at a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.The operation was only uncovered after a tip-off from a victim who used the Find My Phone app to trace her stolen iPhone to the facility.Officers discovered that almost all of the phones in the boxes had been stolen – resulting in the launch of Operation Echosteep. The investigation uncovered a supply chain of street-level thieves, handlers and exporters moving stolen devices out of Britain.Detectives intercepted further shipments and used forensics found on packages to identify those involved. In September 2025, police attended Roshan Dry Fruits and Nuts on Lea Bridge Road in east London to carry out a search of the shop and found it to be a 'storage location to which both Khadikhel and Miakhel could be linked', prosecutors said. An open 'trap door' in the shop led to a basement where police found smartphones wrapped in tin foil, as well as £44,665 in cash. In another incident, police tailed and intercepted a vehicle associated with the gang that had tinted windows. Miakhel was the driver and Khadikhel was sitting in the back seat.An officer stopped the car but had to smash the window after being unable to open the locked doors.Phones were found scattered on the backseat of the car with red and yellow stickers as officers lifted Khadikhel out of the car. The Met's investigation recovered a plethora of stolen phones from the organised crime group More than 5,000 phones worth £5.5million were seized following an investigation into the defendantsKhadikhel, of Eastway, Wanstead, and Miakhel were both wearing a necklace with a Sim extractor device attached when they were arrested in September 2025. Miakhel's phone was found to contain messages between December 2024 and May 2025 regarding payments totalling £243,050 to those providing stolen phones. The court heard Miakhel has two previous convictions relating to counterfeit goods, dating back to 2012 and 2019. 'He is extremely remorseful and sorry,' said his barrister Ronnie Bergenthal. Brian Kennedy, defending Khadikhel said: 'Mr Khadhikel came to the UK after fleeing Afghanistan in 2019. He had to leave wife and child.'Homeless and mentally ill, he was offered accommodation by a member of the Afghan community, which was initially free of charge.'Kennedy explained that Khadikhel was at that time unable to work legally in the UK and was in the process of applying for asylum.The barrister claimed Khadikhel's host told him that he had to pay to stay and could work for him for £70 a day.He was given phones to wrap in foil whilst continuing with his asylum application. Khadikhel masterminded the smuggling operation transporting over 62,000 stolen iPhones, worth £181 million to China and Dubai, making two huge shipments a week via DHL and UPS The Metropolitan Police said the defendants were part of the 'UK's largest mobile phone smuggling network'But Judge Adam Hiddleston was dismissive of the suggestion that Khadikhel was unaware of the true value of the goods he was shipping when he ran his own operation.'He knew all along, all the evidence leads back to him,' the judge said. The court heard that Mohammed, of High Road, Wood Green, worked within the middle rung of the enterprise – collecting phones from thieves and moving them on to Khadikhel and Miakhel at a profit for himself. Mohammed, who came to the UK from India on a visa in 2019, was arrested in September 2025 while driving a Toyota Estima which was found to contain six faraday bags, which block electromagnetic and radio frequencies, in the glove box, as well as seven rolls of tin foil and mobile phones.The Indian national previously worked in a telephone repair shop which 'put him into contact with people looking to sell obviously stolen telephones', the court heard. Mohammed's barrister, Ben Irwin, argued that his client played a lesser role in the conspiracy.'He was in my submission, not a leader at all. He denies involvement in distribution and onward transport,' the barrister said.Judge Hiddleson said: 'Where else would it have come from? He's admitted to handling stolen goods as part of his plea.'Scotland Yard praised a 'brilliant' Daily Mail investigation after the three members of a phone smuggling network admitted their role in the trafficking operation. This newspaper traced stolen phones from the streets of central London, through suburban British warehouses, before they landed in the international markets of Dubai, Hong Kong and, ultimately, China.Detectives reckoned a huge network of pickpockets - including Bulgarian girls and young women operating under a 'Fagin'-type boss - stole mobiles from unwitting members of the public, before selling them on to around 50 middlemen such as Mohammed. Street thieves were paid up to £300 per handset and the gang sold them on to the Middle East and the Far East for as much as $5,000 (£3,700)The phones were stolen across the country and some were taken from as far north as Newcastle. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley hailed the coordinated raids that halted the operation 'the 'biggest counter-phone theft operation in the world.' Commander Andy Featherstone, the Met's lead for tackling mobile phone theft earlier said: 'One of the reasons that China has been so significant in this is that these devices fetch a significant premium second hand, more than they do here in the UK.'Part of the reason is that the phones are not restricted, they don't have any government restrictions. That means that they have access to the internet. Phones in the region are fetching quite a significant premium.'