Moped Gang Ransacks Flagship Apple Store

Regent Street was Apple's first store in Europe, and has handled more than 60 million customers over the past 12 years, and will be the first store in Europe with the new design concept. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

A security guard was threatened with a hammer as he tried to stop a moped gang from ransacking London’s flagship Apple store in the early hours of Monday morning.

Police said that ten thugs on five mopeds smashed their way into the Regent Street store. Two minutes later, the thieves made off with iPhones, iPads and watches worth thousands of pounds.

The Metropolitan Police said they were alerted to reports of a robbery at around 12:45 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 13.

Detectives are investigating the CCTV recordings of the incident. A red moped was abandoned inside the glass doors of the store, according to Sky News.

Two iPhone Xs were recovered near Kings Cross.

(Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Look-outs were reportedly posted outside the store, while others ran inside and took Apple products on display stands. The suspects then drove off on waiting mopeds, the Evening Standard reported.

One customer, Hajra Ali, 37, from Ilford, told the newspaper that this was not an isolated attack in the capital.

“There have been loads of moped attacks in my area, they even use them for house break-ins,“ he said. ”They break into the front door, one goes inside to grab what they want and then they get out. There are always two of them on each moped.”

There are over 50 moped-enabled crimes in London every day, according to the Mayor’s office.

The Apple store raid comes just one month after a “smash and grab” at a high-end jewellery store on the same famous shopping street.

The raid at Mappin & Webb jewellery store on Oct. 9 involved six suspects. Three thieves forced themselves into the store using weapons including a hammer, an axe and bats, according to police.  The trio then left with three other thugs who were waiting outside on revved-up mopeds.

Scotland Yard hopes that their new BMW motorbikes will help them chase down moped criminals. The bikes are part of their new tactics revealed on Oct. 31 to deal with the rising number moped criminals. (Metropolitan Police)

Moped-related thefts in the capital have risen by an estimated 60 percent in the past two years.

According to police, 1,009 mopeds were stolen in London in October 2015; this April they stole 1,598.

Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe helped a tourist who was slashed in the face by muggers on a moped this July. The man in his 50s was targeted for his Louis Vuitton bag in the affluent London area of Chelsea.