he was making up some crim's excuse about not being able to turn his phone on in case it exploded. Well, in case some virus or whatever caused the entire government computer system to crash or be compromised.
Most forensic investigators would point out that the risk is reduced if not nullified by turning the phone on only inside a Faraday cage laboratory with no wifi etc. Then at worst, the virus could only delete or scramble anything on the phone, not phone home in Russia. If it was the phone belonging to some 18 year old hacker with autism and ADHD and social phobia, they would have deconstructed it by now looking for any evidence.
When authorities say they can't do X Y or Z they really mean, they can't be bothered to. (I'm Lord Lucan by the way in the Costa Del Sol)