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Well, morning folks. It's 4.45am. It's murderously early, but we've come here to Bexley Police Station in South East London
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The reason we're here this very early is for a dawn raid that's taking place around about six o'clock
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And it's a raid that is going to target an organised crime group
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We've been going after mobile phones, not just the thefts on the street, of course, that have been plaguing many people in communities around the country
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But what we're seeing now are these organised groups going into phone shops, smashing their way in, taking big boxes of phones in the back
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Well, this team of officers have just been briefed really about what they're likely to face
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We're going to one address where we're told that two suspects are at that address
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We're going to meet up shortly with other officers from the covert flying squad team
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Just how prolific was this organised crime group? How dangerous? Yeah, really prolific
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They have committed offences not just in London, but across the UK and the home counties
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They haven't used weapons in particular in this case, but they have showed strength by going in in numbers to intimidate the staff and really just frighten people into submission So the teams as you can see are just kitting up now
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to head to the location where this raid will take place. It's always with these things, you just never know
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whether the suspects are going to be home. The intelligence is that, yes, they will be there
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So they're going to get a rude awakening about half an hour's time
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How profitable is this trade? These are expensive pieces of equipment they're stealing
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Absolutely. One iPhone can cost in the region of £1,200. In some incidents, they've stolen up to 72 handsets at a time
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So it's really, really lucrative. So we're talking £100,000 a raid? Yes, absolutely. It's high profit for them
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And really, that's why the Flying Squad have got involved, because of the impact on industry
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Police, open the door, it's going in! Well, it seems to have gone very well here
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Just at the last minute, they thought they were going to have to use the enforcer down here
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to smash the door in, but the people inside were compliant. They opened the door, so they're inside
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And what we told is that the two suspects they were waiting for have actually been arrested So that a result here Another dozen addresses are being raided as well
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The Flying Squad involved, because of your specialist skills, you bring the ability to, in quick time
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be able to sort of delve into these investigations and do this kind of multi-pronged, big operation
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Absolutely. We can take an investigation at its early stages and see it right the way through
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We can identify the offenders. We can work across borders, not just in London, but nationally
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So we've got other forces coming into us with these crime types
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and we're taking them all in conjunction to link the series and then have this arrest day today
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And how often are you seeing serious crimes that the Flying Squad deal with
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How often are you seeing the thefts around mobile phones coming across your desk
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Yes, we're seeing them quite prolific at this time. We've got a number of jobs and we're working really closely with industry
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to identify and get the links and trends for these crime types
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We've got a few that we're looking at at this time and we're really in this space
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Well, that was a result for the Flying Squad. These are rare access moments for us I never been in 25 years of being down in London out with the Flying Squad before It was great to see them operating They have arrested two members of
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this organised crime group here. Others have been rounded up at the other addresses as well. Police
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And you might think mobile phone thefts them. Why is the Flying Squad this very serious
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detective organisation involved in that? Well, when I tell you that an individual handset
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can be at least 1,200 quid if it's the likes of an iPhone
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if they go in, as they have been doing, and steal maybe 70 or so of these phones
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from a mobile phone stock shop, you're talking then, basically, of about £100,000 in each of these raids
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So you can see this is big business that these criminal gangs are involved in
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And that's why the flying squad are involved. And we're very grateful to them for allowing our JB News audience to see just exactly what they do in these complex investigations
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Now the hard work, of course, begins for those detectives as they put the case together that they will eventually put before the courts
