A gang of youths “stormed” a mobile phone store before helping themselves to more than 20 handsets on Monday.

Around six boys barged into Carphone Warehouse in Station Road at 11am where they stole 23 mobile phones including Blackberrys and Nokias as well as a Notebook laptop.

Zlatko Talic, a negotiator at Bairstow Eves estate agents, was sitting at his desk when he saw the incident take place across the street.

He said: “I saw about five or six youths running towards the store. They stormed in – they were only in there for less than a minute then they suddenly ran out again.

“As they ran off past the Tube station an employee came out and stood by the door. It happened so quickly.”

Two-15-year-old boys were later arrested for theft. They have been bailed to return to a north London police station at 7pm this evening.

Officers have also recovered a black bag containing a number of mobile phones believed to be from Carphone Warehouse.

The raid comes just two months after gun-wielding robbers broke into Vinson Jeweller’s in Station Road - just metres from Carphone Warehouse.

Mr Talic said: “It does make me worry because it seems to happen a lot around here.”

One trader in Station Road, who did not want to be named, said: “People are scared because things like this are happening a lot. The area’s getting worse.

“There should be more police or cameras on the streets to prevent it.”

A spokesman for Carphone Warehouse said: “The safety and welfare of our employees is our number one priority and thankfully nobody was hurt in this instance.

"We are working closely with the police on this and assisting them with their enquiries.”