Afghan asylum seeker who masterminded £181MILLION phone smuggling operation jailed

More than 5,000 phones worth £5.5million were seized following an investigation into the defendants, a sentencing hearing for the trio at Southwark Crown Court heard.

Judge Adam Hiddleston sentenced Khadikhel, of Eastway, Wanstead, to nine and a half years’ imprisonment; Miakhel, of The Drive, Walthamstow, to nine years’ imprisonment; and Mohammed, of High Road, Wood Green, to six and a half years’ imprisonment.

Detectives found street thieves were being paid up to £300 per handset, with some devices later "selling for as much as 5,000 US dollars in 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 boxes were searched after a phone theft victim contacted DHL after they tracked their stolen device to the logistics firm’s Heathrow site.

Officers discovered that almost all 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 the UK.

Some of the phones smuggled out of the UK by the gang

PA

In September 2025, police attended Roshan Dry Fruits and Nuts in 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.

Khadikhel 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.

Amir Khadikhel was the ringleader of the gang

MET POLICE

The court heard that Mohammed 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.

Prosecutor Karen Robinson KC said the men were part of a "sophisticated and organised criminal network" that "facilitated the export of thousands of valuable stolen mobile telephones, mostly iPhones, out of the UK".

Ismat Miakhel and Mansoor Mohammed were also convicted

MET POLICE

The prosecutor added that phone smuggling in London was "prolific" and a "very significant societal problem".

Saira Pike of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Phone theft is more than just a financial loss as it involves victims losing personal data, precious pictures or memories and their sense of security.

"Amir Khadikhel, Ismat Miakhel and Mansoor Mohammed were at the heart of a sophisticated organised crime operation that profited from the misery of victims who had their mobile phones stolen across London.

"We worked closely with the Metropolitan Police to build a strong case and the sheer strength of the evidence meant the defendants ultimately accepted their roles and pleaded guilty shortly before trial."

Phones were smuggled to China by the gang

MET POLICE

Phones were found wrapped in foil near Heathrow Airport

MET POLICE

Khadikhel had previously been arrested in March 2022 for handling stolen goods after officers found him in possession of 14 phones while wrapping devices in kitchen foil.

Mitigating for Khadikhel, Brian Kennedy said he had fled Afghanistan in 2019 and travelled to the UK as an asylum seeker, leaving his wife and two children behind.

The lawyer said Khadikhel "accepts knowing a significant number of phones were being handled and being exported" but was "unaware of the extent of the enterprise" and "struggles with mental health issues".

Mitigating for Miakhel, Ronnie Bergenthal, said he had played a "significant role" but "did not have direct contact with those in charge of the operation", adding he was "extremely sorry".

Mitigating for Mohammed, Ben Irwin said he accepted he "sourced telephones and sold them on" but was "not a leader at all" in the enterprise.