GANGS BOAST... The cops can’t stop us stealing your phones
grab takes time and that’s when you start running into difficulties.”
He said they start off on two bikes – one rider acting as a “spotter” for phones and another on the lookout for police.
Once they spot a phone they park up on one bike and both jump on one. “One will ride and the other will snatch,” he added.
The Met’s uniformed “Scorpion” officers have been using the “tactical contact” policy if thieves mount pavements or weave in traffic. It started after the spike in moped crime and has already helped cut it by a third in a year.
The tactics include providing officers with a special marking spray to fire at suspects, using remotecontrolled spikes to burst the tyres of bikes and using police cars to knock suspects off their bikes.
Officers had been reluctant to chase mopeds amid fears of injury or death.
But Insp Jim Corbett said those who thought they would not be chased if they took off their helmets were in for a surprise: “A big myth that we have is that if people remove their helmets they think they are not going to be pursued.”
The gang insisted it made no difference what the Met were doing and vowed to carry on with the crimewave.
In a show of defiance, the lad said: “We know what they’re doing but it’s not going to stop us. Our message to the Feds is they can go f*** themselves.”
He said the gang often steal the bikes they ride without “hot wiring them”.
“We break the steering lock then take the foot peg out and have someone on another bike make it look as if he’s towing it away.
“It takes about a minute to break the lock and we’re away. We call it gone in 60 seconds.”
DAILY STAR SUNDAY SAYS
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‘Our message to the police is they can go and f*** themselves’