Dramatic footage of police officers chasing suspected e-bike phone thieves has been released as the Met announced almost 200 people have been arrested in a major operation targeting the gangs terrorizing London.
The officers’ body cameras captured the increasingly chaotic scenes Metropolitan Police during their crackdown on phone thefts in the capital.
The Met hunted gangs who use high-powered e-bikes and mopeds to take phones and valuables from unsuspecting pedestrians before speeding away.
As a result, 187 thieves were arrested and 157 e-bikes, mopeds and other vehicles seized.
The operation, which ran from February to July, focused on thefts that occurred in Westminster and other central parts of the country London hotspots, where plainclothes and uniformed officers conduct patrols and stop people known to police or linked to previous incidents.
Specialist officers were also ready to respond immediately if a theft was reported, using tracking data from stolen phones to track suspects.
Expertly trained police riders were then able to chase the suspected thieves through busy pedestrian areas, giving officers the chance to catch suspects who might otherwise escape on two wheels.
Extraordinary clips show police racing along sidewalks, through parks and through narrow alleys as they chase offenders – with one video showing a member of the public kicking the living daylights out of a suspected thief e-bike before another rushes to help officers detain him.
The footage captures the increasingly chaotic scenes faced by police hunting gangs who use powerful e-bikes and mopeds to take phones and valuables from unsuspecting victims.
The Met has revealed that a major crackdown on criminals has resulted in 187 arrests and the seizure of 157 vehicles
The operation, which ran from February to July, targeted prolific thieves in Westminster and other London hotspots where e-bike and moped crime was rife.
The Met said e-bike-related crime fell by 22 per cent during the operation in areas such as Lambeth and Southwark, as well as major tourism and transport hubs such as Waterloo and London Bridge.
The operation also targeted those carrying weapons and involved in drug offences, with officers making arrests for a range of crimes including robbery and theft.
Among those arrested was a 17-year-old boy seen earlier that morning on a moped allegedly linked to a phone theft.
Officers attempted to stop him, prompting a brief chase before he was intercepted. When he was later searched, a knife was allegedly uncovered.
He was subsequently charged with driving offenses and possession of an offensive weapon and bailed to appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on October 1.
In another case, officers spotted a 22-year-old man wanted for theft on an illegal e-bike.
As police approached, he accelerated towards them and hit an officer with his bicycle.
He was stopped by another officer and arrested on suspicion of theft and assault on an emergency worker.
Police said they found several stolen cellphones wrapped in aluminum foil during a search, allegedly in an attempt to disrupt their tracking signals.
The man was charged and remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.
Supporters of the National Police Air Service during the pursuit. The Met has also stepped up its efforts to seize illegal and modified e-bikes used on London’s roads. More than 2,500 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters have been seized so far this year.
In extraordinary incident, a member of the public is seen kicking a suspected thief off his e-bike before another citizen rushes to help officers detain him
And in Soho, officers approached a 23-year-old man who immediately ran away.
Police said he allegedly dropped a knife during the chase before being stopped and arrested for possession of an offensive weapon. He was later released on bail until October.
The Met has also stepped up its efforts to seize illegal and modified e-bikes used on London’s roads. More than 2,500 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters have been seized so far this year.
The force has expanded its fleet of powerful Sur-Ron e-bikes from five to 25, allowing officers to pursue suspects with illegal bikes who might otherwise escape.
Chief Inspector Gareth Gilbert, who led the operation, said: “Targeted operations like this keep us one step ahead of criminals using high-powered bikes or mopeds to steal from Londoners.
‘By disrupting this crime and making hundreds of arrests, we are making London a safer place to live, work and visit. Our approach works: crime in the neighborhood has fallen by 14 percent in the past year and 13,000 fewer telephone thefts have been committed.’
The crackdown comes against the backdrop of growing concerns about the use of e-bikes in crime and serious traffic incidents.
It comes as Forest bikes in Richmond, west London, will be fitted with number plates to make riders easier to identify.
A third of the fleet of 1,500 bicycles will be equipped with five-digit ID codes, corresponding numbers already printed below the QR codes used to activate the bicycles.
The move follows figures showing that almost 39,000 incidents involving e-bikes have been recorded by police forces across Britain in the past three years.
This includes traffic accidents, robberies, assaults, drug offenses and sexual offenses, but also pedestrians being hit.
E-bikes were involved in almost 1,000 traffic accidents during that period, while more than 700 incidents were registered under ‘violence against the person’.
In addition, there were 60 drug offences, 40 of which involved weapons possession and 84 sex offences.
In more than a third of cases, the police were unable to identify a suspect, a total of 3,396 incidents.
Devon & Cornwall and Dorset police have recorded more than 9,600 incidents between them over the past three years.
West Yorkshire Police recorded one of the sharpest increases, with the number of incidents rising from 1,798 in 2023 to 4,001 last year – an increase of 122 per cent. The force registered a total of 8,647 incidents.
The figures include almost 500 road traffic accidents and more than 5,700 anti-social behavior and crime-related incidents, including 250 robberies, 156 arson and criminal damage incidents and 19 drug offences.
In 1,655 cases the force was unable to identify a suspect.
A citizen helps tackle an alleged criminal as he tries to run from the police
Ms Peters’ face was smashed into a wall and she suffered very serious and complex injuries
This was the moment teenage e-bike rider Billy Stokoe mowed down and killed grandmother Gloria Stephenson in a crosswalk in an incident that shocked the nation
A number of high-profile incidents involving e-bikes have occurred in recent years.
Earlier this year, a woman claimed she was thrown face-first into a brick wall by a Forest cyclist, suffering serious facial and dental injuries.
Sandy Peters told the Daily Mail: ‘The engine went full throttle and I was hit with such brutal force and speed that there were no defensive injuries.
“I didn’t have time to put my hands or arms out, so my face hit straight into the wall.”
BBC broadcaster Nicky Campbell has also spoken publicly about a collision involving his daughter Lilla, 26, in Peckham, south London.
She was left ‘severely injured’ after the incident, which Campbell described as ‘a long and emotional night’.
In another case, teenager Billy Stokoe was sentenced to six years and nine months after killing 86-year-old grandmother Gloria Stephenson at a zebra crossing in Sunderland last year.
Stokoe had consumed cannabis and was using a mobile phone when he hit her.
Despite concerns around e-bike crime, the Met says personal theft and theft in London will fall by 2026.
Theft of personal items and mobile phones has fallen by 15.6 percent, while robberies have fallen by 12.8 percent.
The force said the 187 arrests were part of its wider efforts to tackle guns and violent crime.
Last year, officers seized 676 firearms and 2,894 knives on the streets of London.
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