Three men were arrested when police swooped on a shop suspected of selling stolen mobile phones.

Officers from Croydon police and the national mobile phone unit descended on Jazz Call in London Road on Wednesday after months of undercover and surveillance work in an operation codenamed Azuma.

They scanned each handset for its unique serial number, which they then compared with a national database to see if it had been reported as stolen.

Detective Inspector Brian Cleobury said: "We all know someone who has been robbed for their mobile phone, it's one of the main reasons why school kids get mugged these days.

"The problem is there are dishonest retailers who will give £30 or £40 for them and it's them we need to stop."

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Morgan added: "It is a testament to Croydon that out of the many mobile phone outlets we checked, we have only had to close one."

Several phones were found to have been stolen in the shop and Mark Galloway, an officer with the mobile phone unit, explained how they found them.

"We scan the barcode on the phone which gives us its unique serial number, the INEI," he said. "When phones are stolen this number is logged with us on a national database, so we check it with that and that tells us whether it is stolen or not.

"This is all designed to disrupt the trade in mobile phones which is driving street crime. If we can stop people buying stolen phones then those stealing them will have no one to sell them to. It's about making sure the mobile phone is not the crime of choice."

You can register your unique INEI number by typing *#06# into your phone, and then visit immobilise.com.

Three men were arrested in connection with handling stolen goods and were bailed by Croydon police to return at a later date.