Britain’s booming export: stolen goods | Tom Sasse interview
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How your snatched iPhone feeds a global criminal supply chain.
Britain’s exports have declined in many areas over the past few years, but there is one category in which trade is booming. The UK has become a leading exporter of stolen goods.
From iPhones snatched by gangs on the streets of London to luxury cars stolen to order, criminal organisations are shipping vast amounts of items all around the world via Britain’s ports. And the authorities cannot keep up.
Tom Sasse is public policy editor at The Economist, and has been investigating Britain’s stolen goods trade. He joins the New Statesman’s business editor, Will Dunn, to explain how these criminal exports work, why the police are powerless to stop them, and the impact this crime is having - on individuals, on businesses and on the entire British economy.
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Host: Will Dunn
Guest: Tom Sasse
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The New Statesman. |
| 0:05.4 | Okay, let's talk about crime. |
| 0:09.1 | Britain has suffered a decline in exports in many things in recent years, |
| 0:15.0 | but there is one area in which Britain is a booming exporter. |
| 0:20.3 | It has become a booming exporter. |
| 0:23.8 | It has become a leading exporter of stolen goods. |
| 0:29.6 | Everyone knows that phone snatching has become an epidemic in London. |
| 0:33.4 | There is a sophisticated criminal supply chain, |
| 0:36.7 | which also includes item with much higher price tags, |
| 0:41.3 | such as tractors, luxury sports cars and other items that make their way around the world from the UK. I'm now joined by the economist's public |
| 0:47.3 | policy editor Tom Sass, who has been covering this story on Grand Theft Global Inc. As you call it, Tom. |
| 0:55.1 | And welcome Tom. |
| 0:56.7 | Hi, well. |
| 0:57.1 | Good to be here. |
| 0:57.6 | And just for new statesmen readers who haven't heard of the economist, it's Britain's |
| 1:02.3 | other current affairs magazine. |
| 1:05.4 | I think it's fair to say it. |
| 1:06.7 | It aims to compete with the new statesman. |
| 1:09.0 | And we wish you all the best with that. |
| 1:11.7 | So, Tom, tell us a bit about how Britain has gained this dubious title of world leader in exporting stolen goods. |
| 1:23.3 | Yeah, well, as you say, I think the phone theft sort of picture is quite well known. |
| 1:28.4 | You know, people have seen the fact that London has become the phone fest capital of Europe |
... |
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