What REALLY happens to your phone when it's stolen: Briton discovers his iPhone has ended up in SENEGAL just weeks after it was stolen in Suffolk

  • Richard Walker, from Suffolk, lost his phone and decided to track it with an app 
  • Satellite data suggests the device has somehow found its way to Senegal, Africa 
  • Phone is in the village of Birkelane, almost 2,800 miles from Mr Walker's home 

For the millions of people who lose their phones each year, locator apps are a lifeline when it comes to getting their devices back.

But the trackers provided no help for Richard Walker, from Suffolk, after informing his that his iPhone had somehow made it all the way to Senegal.

The handset was traced to the tiny, remote village of Birkelane - some 2,800 miles from where it was last seen.

Richard Walker, from Felixstowe, in Suffolk, lost his iPhone two weeks ago before managing to track the device to a village in Senegal

Richard Walker, from Felixstowe, in Suffolk, lost his iPhone two weeks ago before managing to track the device to a village in Senegal

A phone tracking app revealed the device's exact location to be the village of Birkelane, around 2,800 miles from where it was lost

A phone tracking app revealed the device's exact location to be the village of Birkelane, around 2,800 miles from where it was lost

Posting an image of the tracking data on Twitter on Tuesday, Mr Walker said: 'My iPhone was stolen a couple weeks ago. Now it is in a forest in Senegal.'

'Don't understand why it left,' he added. 'It always said that I really pushed its buttons.'

A later, more detailed map, seemed to suggest it had ended up in Birkelane.

'I am so closing in on these guys,' he wrote while zooming in on their location. 'Don't look up now.'

If the device was carried there by hand, it would have taken a 100 mile car journey to London before two flights to Dakar via Lisbon, in Portugal.

Mr Walker, a journalist and consultant, joked: 'I don't understand why my phone left. It always said that I really pushed its buttons'

Mr Walker, a journalist and consultant, joked: 'I don't understand why my phone left. It always said that I really pushed its buttons'

Once in the Senegalese capital, the device would have been taken on a second car journey of almost 150 miles before arriving in Birkelane. 

Standard post from the UK to Senegal typically takes a week to arrive, though can take up to eight, according to Royal Mail.

Mr Walker is a freelance journalist and consultant on digital content and strategy.

He has spent time working in Africa and East Asia, and now advises the likes of the London Business School, Royal Bank of Scotland, and UPS.

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