Greater Manchester Police has announced that an Operation Hawk initiative aimed at tackling the export of stolen mobile phones is continuing to be successful at Manchester Airport.
In a four-week period, police have stopped sixteen people during a drive to crack down on members of the public leaving the country with large quantities of mobile phones.
A total of 134 phones have been checked against the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit Register and fifteen were found to be blocked and are apparently stolen.
A further two phones were found to be have been re-programmed.
Three people have since been arrested and are now subject to police bail. Many other handsets have been seized and further enquiries are being undertaken on these phones, which are also believed to be stolen.
Detective Superintendent Gerry Donnellan, GMP's Operation Hawk Co-ordinator, said: "This initiative is another example of our drive to tackle crime in Greater Manchester. Those who handle stolen mobile phones are fuelling street crime and burglary and we intend to continue to apply as much pressure as possible on these individuals to show that this type of crime will not be tolerated".
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