Police will spray phone snatchers with a staining liquid in a crackdown on crime around Waterloo and the South Bank.
The safer neighbourhood team has secured funding to use SelectedDNA tagging spray on suspects.
The crime-stopping spritz can be used to mark the vehicles, clothes and skin of criminals who try to steal people’s electronic devices.
The liquid is invisible but contains a unique code that could link suspects to specific crimes.
When police shine UV light on criminals or clothing stained by the solution, the liquid shows up in a clear fluorescent blue, according to SelectaDNA.
Waterloo and Southbank Neighbourhood Team secured funding from a Home Office project to purchase the spray guns.
The Met Police’s X account for north west Lambeth said: ‘This is part of our efforts to reduce and tackle phone snatchers across the area.
‘We will be making use of this in areas where phone snatches occur.
‘We will be able to tag suspects with unique identifiable liquid that stains the suspect’s skin and clothes and will allow us to link suspects to crimes.’
In December alone there were 64 mobile phone thefts in Lambeth Waterloo and South Bank, according to Met Police data.
In Southwark, the borough next-door, our investigation found phone snatchers had a less than 0.3 per cent chance of being caught.