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A thief was arrested seconds after snatching a mobile phone in central London.

In CCTV footage released by the Metropolitan Police, a man dressed in white crosses a road before stealing a phone from the back pocket of an "unaware victim".

Plain-clothed officers PC Josh Lowther and PC Stephen Rogers, who were on patrol in Soho on 5 July, are then seen leaping into action.

Kaidi Nasser, 25, pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates on 8 July and was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison.

On the same day, he was also sentenced over a theft from a shop in January leading to a total sentence of 30 weeks.

Det Supt Saj Hussain, who leads on phone robbery at the Met, said: “Robbery and theft are invasive and often violent crimes.

"I want to therefore applaud the quick-thinking actions of these two officers for returning the victim’s phone, putting a street thief behind bars, and helping to make London safer."

He said the force is targeting areas where phone thefts are common.

“We encourage people to report as soon as they can whenever they have been a victim of robbery or theft, so officers can attend the scene and investigate swiftly,” he added.

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