I can grab two or three phones in 15 seconds... but they never see my face, I can’t be caught
INSIDE THE EVIL MOPED CRIME GANGS – PROLIFIC SCOOTER ROBBER MR X
From behind the ghoulish mask hiding his identity, TopKat boasts of attacking innocent and unwary pedestrians using baseball bats, knives, swords and acid.
He is a new type of armed robber, one of the swarm of moped gangsters roaming our streets for easy pickings – mostly mobile phones.
“I like this stuff, get me?” he brags. “It’s easy, get me man? Get paid, get me my money. I love it.”
There were more than 23,000 motorcycle crimes in London alone last year – on average 63 a day. Moped crime shot up 2,100% in the capital’s most famous shopping thoroughfare, Oxford Street.
I spent weeks tracking down the gangs behind this two-wheeled crime wave for a new BBC3 show.
TopKat, 21, uses mopeds in smashand-grab raids on high street jewellers.
Sitting in the back of a car in West London he says he has “got bats, got some knives, swords, even acid”. I ask if he has attacked anyone with acid.
“A couple of times,” he says. “Sprayed it in his face just bleeding like, he’s burning. Man’s shouting and screaming.”
Trying to justify it, he adds: “If I had my knife on me one of us would have ended up dead, you get me?”
TopKat claims to feel guilt. “Actually don’t make me feel too good obviously, but man’s not doing it to intentionally hurt them innit,” he says. “I’m just doing it so they get out the way innit so they don’t resist so I can just get my things.”
TopKat takes me on a scouting trip to demonstrate how an armed robbery on mopeds is planned.
He points out which shops are easy targets and which he would avoid. A recce, he tells me, is 100% essential “so we know what we’re looking for, so we know all the back roads, we know how to cut out quickly”.
Each gang member has their own job. TopKat says: “We set roles: man that stay inside, man that go and grab the sh*t, man that patrol the doors.” “What’s your role?” I ask. “I’m going in and I’m grabbing.” Over the past year mopeds have become a top feature in videos of crimes online. In some cases, the videos are uploaded by the thieves themselves, bragging on anonymous Twitter and Instagram accounts. Many gangs strike repeatedly until they are caught.
Larbi, a motorcycle courier in Central London, has seen so much moped crime he started filming it and posting the footage online. He was on Park Lane in Mayfair, Central London, when he spotted a gang on mopeds with sledgehammers strapped to their backs.
He flagged down a police community support officer but moments later the gang rode back past them and dumped a machete just yards away. In that short time the gang had raided Boodles jewellers in nearby Knightsbridge.
Last summer Larbi filmed two mopeds
mount the pavement and snatch a phone from a City worker. He pursued the bikes to note the number plate. It read “on my job”. Larbi says: “They’re obviously taking the p***.”
After many calls I meet Mr X, a 21-year-old phone snatcher from Islington, North London. He says he’s stolen hundreds over seven years.
“It’s like stealing candy from a baby,” he says. “In 15 to 20 seconds I could get like two or three phones.”
Mr X takes me to one of his favourite hunting grounds: Upper Street in Islington. He says rush hour is the perfect time to strike – heavy traffic helps keep the police at bay.
“Traffic is not a problem, red light not a problem, speed camera I don’t give a s**t. I am getting away, that’s it.”
The gang prey on people on the street distracted by their phones.
“Especially with their headphones in, they’re completely unaware what’s going to happen,” says Mr X.
Mr X shows me three hotspots – pedestrian crossings, bus stops and the pavement. He takes me to each hotspot to show me just how unaware people are of their vulnerability to theft. I’m surprised to see just how many phones are on display.
Mr X says they are fair game. “You’re asking for it… you’re crossing the road, you should have all eyes on the road.”
He takes me to meet his buyer. I thought software on phones protected them against theft, but I was wrong.
“You put it on airplane mode and then there’s no location services so after that they don’t know where the phone has gone, untraceable,” he says. “You have that ‘find my phone’ feature but once the phone’s off, that’s it.”
Mr X took four phones to the buyer, who paid between £70 and £250 for each. The buyer takes them to Nigeria, where they fetch even more.
I couldn’t understand how the moped thieves were evading capture.
“I’m not on the same bike every day, I’m not in the same clothes, not in the same area every day either,” Mr X says.
“I’m not going to show my face; no face, no case. If I see a camera, it’s looking for licence plates. I don’t have a licence plate and if I do it’s not mine.”
Most bikes used in the crimes are stolen. On average there were 38 motorcycles stolen in London every day in 2017. Last summer a gang broke into a motorcycle showroom in West London and stole a £28,000 superbike.
Mr X introduced me to Ghost, who specialises in stealing mopeds. Alarms don’t matter to him. “You can still snap the steering column. Even if the alarm goes off you’ve just gotta do the job quickly innit, get it done fast.”
Heavy chains, multiple locks and a cover are the only deterrent for Ghost.
But half of London motorcyclists do not use locks. Ghost and Mr X also target delivery drivers – order a takeaway and the bike comes to your door.
Driver Jabed Hussain suffered an acid attack by two bike thieves in East London. The acid thrower, Derryck John, 17, at Wood Green crown court, North London, last month, admitted six acid attacks, two robberies and four attempted robberies. He will be sentenced on March 9.
Jabed is setting up a union to give other victims financial help. Moped crime has spread like a virus and delivery drivers are at risk every day.
Inside Britain’s Moped Crime Gangs is available on BBC3 from 10am today.