Undercover police officers caught a phone thief in under a minute after he snatched a handset in central London.
Metropolitan Police posted footage of the pursuit on social media, which took place near to London Bridge on Tuesday.
The thief was spotted snatching the phone near Hays Galleria, as the victim attempted to run after his stolen device.
A passing unmarked police car, noting the theft, made an immediate U-turn in the direction the thief was running.
Footage shows the unmarked police car blocking the thief’s path, as officers jump out of the vehicle to arrest the man.
The owner got their phone back, police added.
A spokesperson for Met Police said: “A phone thief snatched a mobile near London Bridge… just up the road from an unmarked police car.
“He got arrested in under 60 seconds and the owner got their phone back.”
It comes as figures show criminals took 70,137 devices last year - 192 a day - at a rate of one every seven-and-a-half minutes.
Phone thefts are now a £50million underworld industry, with most flogged or disassembled for parts in China, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Most are snatched by gang members on mopeds or electric bikes who grab devices out of owners’ hands and speed away before anything can be done.
Thankfully, undercover police officers were passing when this particular theft took place.
