A man has been arrested in Croydon after police said they found him in possession of a Taser disguised as a smartphone.

Posting about the arrest on Twitter Monday (August 10), a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police's 'Task Force' said they had made the arrest in Croydon after using the controversial Stop and Search tactic.

"TSG U44 officers conducting proactive patrols in #Croydon. They stop and searched a Male who they found to be in possession of a taser disguised as a phone!

"One nasty weapon off the street & one in custody!" The spokesperson said.

Tasers are weapons that deliver a high-voltage shock to their targets.

Police use of tasers has increased in England and Wales recently.

Tasers are considered by police as "non-lethal" but human rights groups including Amnesty have pointed to numerous incidents where people tasered have died soon afterwards. 

According to Amnesty, 18 people have died in the UK after being tasered. 

Police and the current government defend the use of the Stop and Search tactic, which allows police officers to stop and search anyone they have "reasonable grounds" to suspect is involved in a crime of some kind.

That's despite the tactic being consistently criticised as systemically racist by race equalities groups, who point out that non-white people are disproportionately targeted by Stop and Searches according to government data.

Between 2010 and 2018, only 15 per cent of people who were subject to a Stop and Search by police were arrested, meaning that the tactic failed to result in any actual law enforcement around 85 per cent of the time.