A Londoner who had her mobile phone snatched from her hand has uncovered a hidden cache of stolen devices buried in a public park, thanks to a tracking app.
The Snatch and the Search
Agiimaa Oyungerel, a 35-year-old journalist and translator from Mongolia, was visiting her husband in London when the theft occurred. On Saturday, December 20, her Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, worth around £1,336, was grabbed by a man on a bicycle outside Surrey Quays train station as she headed to a car boot sale.
Despite giving chase, Ms Oyungerel was no match for the cyclist. After a frantic search, staff at a nearby pawnbrokers informed her that an identical theft had happened just moments before. Her hopes of recovery seemed slim.
Digital Tracking Leads to Buried Treasure
Two hours later, Ms Oyungerel used Google's Find My Device service to locate her phone. The signal led her to Pepys Park in Lewisham, southeast London. "I kneeled on all fours digging through dirt and leaves and branches," she recounted.
Her persistence paid off. "Something hard touched my hand and I found my phone and four other phones. They were all iPhones except mine," she said. Expressing surprise at the thief's error, she added, "I don't know why the thief made such a rookie mistake. Maybe he doesn't have that much experience."
A Growing Trend and Police Response
This incident is not isolated. In recent months, there have been multiple reports of thieves hiding stolen phones in green spaces across the capital. Phoenix Garden in Covent Garden has become a known storage point, with volunteers and staff regularly unearthing devices wrapped in tinfoil—a method used to block tracking signals—from bushes and flowerbeds.
Thieves often bury the phones shallowly, intending to collect them later for export to countries like Algeria or China. After finding the stash, Ms Oyungerel called the police and personally delivered the five phones to a station, though she expressed anxiety about her safety as the perpetrator remains at large.
The Metropolitan Police stated that local officers have increased patrols in the area and are focusing on dismantling organised crime groups behind large-scale phone theft. They report a 16% reduction in phone theft since April 2025.
In a major operation in November, the Met recovered over 3,000 stolen phones and made 46 arrests, targeting a group suspected of exporting up to 40,000 devices to China. The force is also urging phone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung to improve security features to make stolen devices harder to sell.
