Stolen mobile phones

James Brokenshire, crime prevention minister: One of the big problems with mobile phone thefts is the fact that they get stolen for export through recycling companies. 

Around 100,000 phones, stolen phones, end up being exported in that way and I’m delighted that we’re announcing today a new code of practice between the police, between the mobile phone companies (who are recycling the old handsets), to ensure that they’re checked against the stolen database of mobile phones, to make sure that we’re cracking down on people who might think they might steal a mobile phone and simply pass it off to someone to recycle it and export it out the country. 

So I’m really delighted that industry has really come to the fore in this.

A real sense of corporate social responsibility, you might even say a good example of the Big Society, of the mobile phone companies - those who are recycling the handsets - showing that they recognise this is a problem and doing something about it in partnership with government and the police.

Date: Fri Jul 23 10:54:49 BST 2010