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​The Moped Crime Gangs Who Use Acid And Knives To Rob Phones

​The Moped Crime Gangs Who Use Acid And Knives To Rob Phones

A BBC documentary, 'Inside Britain's Moped Crime Gangs', shines a light on the recent rise of moped crime in the UK

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A British moped gang, who use mopeds to get away from crime scenes or to sneak up on members of the public to steal from them, have revealed the dark details behind their work in a new BBC Three documentary.

The documentary, Inside Britain's Moped Crime Gangs, shines a light on the recent rise of moped crime in the UK, where last year there were over 23,000 incidents reported - and that's just in the capital city of London, which has seen a 163 percent rise on the previous year.

From behind creepy masks, the criminals speak openly about attacking innocent, 'stupid' pedestrians and stealing from them, often using baseball bats, knives, swords and acid to do so.

Usually, however, it's even simpler, as they drive by on two wheels and swiftly snatch people's phones before speeding off.

"We are looking for people that are looking down, got their phones out with their headphones in, in particular," said one gangster, known as Mr X.

BBC

"As soon as it is green, they are unaware to any vehicles coming - and for us that is the perfect opportunity because as they're crossing, we time it, and then we'll grab whatever we can grab and off we go.

"By the time we realise we're already at the second traffic light and we are going right. There's a little estate around the corner."

He added: "Anything that's not securely wrapped around someone's shoulder or someone's back, it's very easy for us to snatch and take it."

The 21-year-old also said that he feels people are 'stupid' to walk around with their phones, and that they are 'asking for it'.

"You're asking for it, in my opinion. I just saw a woman just now crossing the road with her phone, looking down. That's not normal," he continued.

"You're crossing the road, you should have all eyes on the road."

BBC

Another criminal called 'Topkat' explained about throwing acid, saying he'd done it 'a couple of times'.

"Sprayed it in his face just bleeding like, he's burning. Man's shouting and screaming," he said.

"If I had my knife on me one of us would have ended up dead, you get me?

"Actually don't make me feel too good obviously, but man's not doing it to intentionally hurt them."

"I'm just doing it so they get out the way innit so they don't resist so I can just get my things.

"I like this stuff, get me? It's easy, get me man, get paid, get me my money. I love it."

Watch Inside Britain's Moped Crime Gangs on BBC iPlayer.

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: UK News, TV and Film, BBC, Crime Documentary, crime, Documentary, London