Brazen thief caught snatching phone in Soho caught by two undercover police officers

A brazen thief was caught by two undercover police officers after snatching a phone in the heart of Soho.

CCTV caught the moment a man dressed in white ran across the road and stole a mobile phone from the back pocket of his victim.

The two officers jumped into action and tackled the thief before returning it to its unwitting owner.Kadi Nasser, 25, was charged with theft before he was remanded in custody. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday, 8 July where he pleaded guilty to theft and was jailed for 30 weeks.

Detective Superintendent Saj Hussain, who leads on phone robbery and theft in the Met, said: “Robbery and theft are invasive and often violent crimes. I want to therefore applaud the quick-thinking actions of these two officers for returning the victim’s phone, putting a street thief behind bars, and helping to make London safer.“Met officers are targeting resources to hotspot areas, such as Westminster and Croydon, with increased patrols and plain clothes officers. These deter criminals and make officers more visibly available to members of the community.“We encourage people to report as soon as they can whenever they have been a victim of robbery or theft, so officers can attend the scene and investigate swiftly.”Work between the police and phone industry is being carried out to “design out” the ability for phones to be stolen.

The Met has asked operating system providers to explore whether lost or stolen devices can be prevented from being re-registered with ‘cloud’ services by a second person.

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