How Phones Stolen in Kenya End Up Being Sold in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania

Your phone could be snatched on Moi Avenue in Nairobi on Monday morning, have its identity wiped by a technician in a dingy backstreet shop by noon, and be on sale in a Kampala market by Tuesday evening.

This is the chilling reality of Kenya’s multi-million shilling cross-border phone theft syndicate that is turning smartphone owners into sitting ducks while criminals feast on a lucrative black market stretching across East Africa.

The Star can now reveal how a sophisticated criminal enterprise involving motorcycle-riding snatchers, corrupt technicians, and cross-border traffickers has turned phone theft into a regional industry worth hundreds of millions of shillings annually.

The syndicate has become so audacious that a phone is stolen in Nairobi every 10 minutes, with most ending up in neighbouring countries where weak enforcement and hungry markets keep the business thriving.

The latest bust has exposed the ugly underbelly of this trade. On January 23, elite officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Operation Support Unit stormed hideouts in Shauri Moyo, Kasarani and the Nairobi Central Business District, arresting seven suspects and recovering more than 150 stolen smartphones, 16 tablets and six laptops.

But what they found was just the tip of a criminal iceberg that stretches from Kenya’s bustling streets to the backstreet markets of Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Bujumbura.

At the heart of the operation was a Ugandan woman running what investigators describe as the logistics command centre from her Shauri Moyo hideout.

When detectives raided her residence, they found 75 mobile phones packed in boxes sealed with yellow tape and two laptops. She was the crucial link, the person coordinating the rapid movement of stolen devices from Kenyan snatchers to eager buyers across the border.

“She acts as the link. Once a phone is snatched on Moi Avenue, it is flashed, repackaged, and put on a bus to Kampala within 24 hours. This rapid transit makes recovery nearly impossible for the average victim,” a DCI source told this writer, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of ongoing investigations.

The operation is brutally efficient and frighteningly well-organized.

Street-level criminals operating on motorcycles or on foot snatch phones from unsuspecting pedestrians stuck in traffic, passengers in matatus, or revellers in nightclubs.

These devices, often worth tens of thousands of shillings, are immediately handed over to receivers who ferry them to repair shops hidden in the city’s maze of backstreets.

This is where the real magic happens.

Tech-savvy criminals armed with specialized flashing equipment get to work.

They wipe the phone’s memory through factory resets, delete all user data, and most crucially, alter the International Mobile Equipment Identity number, the unique 15-digit code that acts as every phone’s fingerprint. By changing the IMEI, these technicians render the devices invisible to Kenyan authorities who might be searching for them.

Some phones never make it across the border intact. Detectives have discovered that certain high-end devices are dismantled for spare parts, which are sold separately to make tracking even more difficult. The parts end up in repair shops across the region, their origins impossible to trace.

Once the phones have been scrubbed of their previous identities and repackaged, they begin their journey across borders.

Transporters use public service vehicles and private cars to conceal the trade, moving the devices through porous East African borders where enforcement remains weak.

The destination cities of Kampala, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam and Kigali provide the perfect market for these stolen goods.

“In Kampala, for instance, a simple Tecno cellphone can be sold at Sh4,000 only,” a senior DCI detective revealed. The bargain prices attract buyers in countries with lower smartphone adoption rates, where consumers are less concerned about the origin of their devices and more interested in affordability.

The numbers paint a grim picture.

Police statistics show that at least 574 suspected stolen phones have been recovered by state security agencies in Nairobi in the past year alone.

But this is just a fraction of the actual theft.

Security sources estimate that most cases go unreported, with victims simply replacing their SIM cards and moving on, creating a shadow economy that authorities struggle to quantify.

The human cost is even more devastating. In 2023 alone, 10 Nairobi residents lost their lives to phone snatchers.

The crime has evolved from petty theft to violent robbery, with criminals increasingly willing to use force.

Victims are dragged from matatus, attacked in traffic jams, or assaulted in broad daylight, all for the sake of devices that will be worth a fraction of their value once they cross the border.

The syndicate thrives because of Kenya’s unique position in the region. With 42.35 million smartphones reported by the Communications Authority of Kenya as of March 2025, representing an 80.8 percent penetration rate, Kenya has become the primary hunting ground for phone thieves.

The country’s high smartphone adoption, driven by increased affordability and growing demand for digital services, has created an irresistible target for criminals.

But the real fuel for this criminal enterprise is the fragmented legal landscape across East Africa. While Kenya has implemented strict IMEI registration requirements and systems to blacklist stolen phones, other countries in the region have failed to create aligned legal frameworks.

A phone blocked in Kenya can be reactivated and used freely in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda or Burundi, where enforcement mechanisms are weaker or non-existent.

“The cross-border syndicate uses a flash-and-dash method to evade detection. Major cities in Kenya, including Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa and Eldoret, serve as hubs where the mobile phones are stolen, collected and prepared for transport to cities with a high demand for cheap handsets,” the DCI detective explained.

The pattern repeats itself with alarming regularity. On November 5, 2025, Nyeri police arrested three suspects at a mobile phone repair shop and recovered 417 smartphones and 47 SIM cards. On October 14, 2023, police in Nairobi arrested two Kenyans and two Ugandans with 13 stolen smartphones destined for Uganda.

In another case, detectives arrested a suspect with 265 stolen iPhones and 10 Android phones in Kasarani.

DCI Director Mohamed Amin has made clear that authorities are fighting back. “We are coming for the technicians who flash these phones and the individuals who help transport them to neighbouring countries,” he declared after the latest raid.

Detectives are now working with telecommunications companies across East Africa to share data on blacklisted phones, a move designed to make it harder for criminals to profit from their trade.

Interpol has also been brought into the fight, with regional cooperation aimed at dismantling the smuggling networks.

But challenges remain.

The ready market for cheap smartphones in East African capitals continues to fuel demand, and inconsistent legal frameworks create vulnerabilities that criminals eagerly exploit.

The other enablers of this criminal economy include fintech companies that have inadvertently become victims.

Firms like M-Kopa, Watu Credit and Mophone Kenya, which provide pay-as-you-go financing for smartphones, have suffered significant losses through the unlocking of loaned devices.

Cyber cafe operators and IT experts have been caught assisting criminals by unlocking phones leased to users, creating a secondary layer of criminality.

Online marketplaces have also become conduits for stolen goods, providing discreet platforms where criminals can offload devices without raising suspicion.

Street shops and repair stalls serve as fronts for the trade, with some operators maintaining legitimate businesses while secretly dealing in stolen goods.

The theft syndicates have become so sophisticated that they now involve women and men who draw minimal suspicion of being criminals. Gone are the days when phone theft was the preserve of dirty street urchins.

Today’s criminals look like ordinary Kenyans, blending into crowds and operating with impunity until raids expose their networks.

For victims, the aftermath of phone theft extends beyond the loss of a device.

Personal data, photos, financial information stored in mobile banking apps, and access to digital services all vanish in an instant.

The emotional toll is significant, with many victims reporting feelings of violation and vulnerability long after the theft.

Safaricom shops experience their busiest periods on Monday mornings, filled with customers who lost their phones over the weekend when people tend to be more carefree and less vigilant about their belongings.

The queues at mobile operator shops have become a visible reminder of how endemic the problem has become.

Authorities are urging victims to report thefts immediately, both to police and mobile operators, to create a paper trail that can be used as evidence if the phone is misused for fraudulent activities.

But the reality is that many Kenyans have lost faith in the recovery process, viewing it as futile given how quickly devices disappear across borders.

The battle against phone theft syndicates represents a new frontier in law enforcement, requiring coordination between multiple countries, telecommunications companies, and technology manufacturers.

Until regional legal frameworks are harmonized and enforcement mechanisms strengthened, the criminals will continue to exploit the gaps, turning Kenyan smartphone owners into unwitting suppliers for East African black markets.

As Kenya’s smartphone adoption continues to grow, with mobile penetration reaching 145.3 percent and digital services becoming increasingly essential to daily life, the stakes have never been higher.

Every stolen phone represents not just a financial loss but a disruption to the digital economy that Kenya has worked hard to build.

The message from investigators is clear.

The days of easy money are numbered for phone thieves and their cross-border networks.

But until that day arrives, Kenyans must remain vigilant, holding their phones tightly in traffic, avoiding distractions in public spaces, and understanding that in the world of phone theft, a moment of carelessness can mean losing more than just a device.

It can mean fueling a criminal empire that spans borders and destroys lives.