A 14-year-old boy from Croydon is among five teenagers arrested by the Metropolitan Police over a shocking, organised raid on the Apple store in the Brent Cross shopping centre on Sunday and made off with an estimated £50,000-worth of hi-tech equipment.
A gang of eight youths, all dressed in black, grabbed the iPhones from the counters in the store, in a raid that reports say took just 24 seconds.
CCTV footage recorded the raid, as panic spread through shoppers who were already inside the shop. As the thieves plucked electronic devices off tables, parents with children fled outside.
No smash, lots of grab: eight youths, including at least one from Croydon, were said to have taken at least 50 top-end mobile phones in the Apple raid
Security guards wearing hi-viz jackets appeared helpless to stop the robbers.
Last night, the Metropolitan Police announced it had made five arrests. Four of those charged, including the Croydon youth, are too young to be named in reports.
Mycah Omo-Idahosa, of Lothian Rd, Lambeth, is 18, and he was due to appear in custody at Willesden Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
“Two 15-year-old boys from Lambeth, a 14-year-old boy from Croydon and a 16-year-old boy from Cambridge have also been charged with robbery and will appear at the same court,” the Met said.
“Police were called at around 14:35hrs on Sunday, 5 January to reports a group had entered a shop in Brent Cross Shopping Centre before stealing around 50 mobile phones.
“Officers attended and swiftly made arrests, whilst also recovering the majority of the phones.”
One other 15-year-old boy arrested has been bailed while enquiries continue, the police say.
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