The men, armed with hammers and knives, broke their way into stores using portable angle grinders and fencing blocks used as makeshift battering rams, which were left as a calling card.

Wearing motorcycle helmets and dark clothing, they ransacked the stockrooms of 17 shops, sweeping high-end iPhone and Samsung handsets into bags.

The raids were over in minutes and they made their getaway on mopeds and scooters.

All but one of the raids were carried out on shops run by mobile phone company Three, costing the firm an estimated £1.2million in lost stock, damage, increased security and the closing of a branch targeted four times.

Courtney White, 23, Mominur Rahman, 22, Mohammed Hussain, 24, Chang Mabiala, 22, Mohammed Ali, 24, Chris Costi, 19, Bobby Kennedy, 22, Alfie Kennedy, 21, Adam Attalah, 21, and Dylan Castano Lopez, 20, were all either convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, conspiracy to commit burglary between May 1 and November 27 last year.

Judge Michael Simon jailed the gang at London’s Blackfriars Crown Court, describing them as “young in chronological age, but old in criminality”.

He said: “The attacks were highly organised and meticulously planned. “Nothing and no one was allowed to stand in the way of this gang’s intentions.”

Three security guards were beaten and one witness was threatened with a firearm during the spree.

The court heard Three attached GPS tracking devices to some phones in their stores, which were tracked when they were stolen by the gang.

The judge praised the work of detectives from the Metropolitan Police, who “meticulously” pieced the case together from many strands.

He added: “This case understandably generated not insignificant press interest. This is not surprising given the number of features – gangs, mopeds, knife crime, to name but a few – that are so uppermost in the minds of those who live in London and elsewhere, who are consistently bombarded with more news of crimes committed with some or all of those features.”

White, from Wood Green in north London, was jailed for 18 years, with a two-year extended licence period;

Rahman, from Camden in north London, was jailed for 12½ years;

Hussain, 24, from Hackney, east London, was jailed for 10 years;

Mabiala, from Islington, north London, was jailed for 8½ years;

Ali, from Hackney, was jailed for seven years and one month;

Costi, from Hackney, was jailed 8½ years;

Bobby Kennedy, from Islington, was jailed for 11½ years;

Alfie Kennedy, from Shoreditch, was jailed for 13 years and one month;

Attalah, of no fixed address, was jailed for 10 years and 10 months; and Lopez, from Camberwell, south London, was jailed for 10 years and one month.