A pair of Croydon thieves who menaced mobile-phone shops across London for two years have been jailed for swiping 60 handsets.

Silver Baboi, 23, of Thornton Heath, and Vasile Mihai, 21, of Northborough Road, Norbury, worked as a team to district staff and block their view before stealing phones. 

They took handsets worth an estimated £45,000 from 34 shops between February 2013 and January this year.

The duo ripped or cut the phones from the security cables designed to prevent theft. 

They stole from shops across the capital, including in Whitgift Centre, Croydon, Wimbledon, Putley, Ealing, Stratford, Harrow, Lewisham, Brent Cross and Romford.

But they were identified after police officers spent days studying CCTV footage from the shops targeted.

 They were jailed for 24 weeks at Croydon Crown Court last week after admitting conspiracy to steal.

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CCTV footage shows Mihai stealing a phone efrom Carphone Warehouse in Croydon on October 14

Detective Sergeant John Maude, of the Metropolitan Police's National Mobile Phone Crime Unit, said: "This is an excellent result which has seen two members of an organised criminal network jailed for their part in a conspiracy to steal from mobile phone stores.

"The NMPCU is committed to ensuring that those engaged in criminal activity do not escape justice and will continue to work with industry partners and other police forces to target and prosecute offenders."

A third man, aged 28, admitted conspiracy to steal and is due to be sentenced on September 1.

The convictions follow a police investigation into an organised criminal network of mobile phone thieves.

A 19-year-old man arrested in connection to the same investigation has been bailed until August, while police are also hunting a 21-year-old who failed to appear on police bail on July 7.