By STACEY MULLEN

THERE is no where to hide for metal thieves as crime-fighting agencies have stepped up their efforts to tackle the problem through new legislation and an enforcement operation.

New legislation came into force on September 1 which bans the use of cash when buying or selling scrap metals.

In a bid to raise awareness of the law changes, a series of road stops were held in the North and South sides of Glasgow.

As a result of Operation Scandium five individuals are now facing charges for transporting scrap metal without appropriate licenses.

Authorities including British Transport Police (BTP), Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC), Police Scotland, Scottish Government, and Trading Standards are all involved in enforcing the changes to law.

And despite a recent reduction in cases, the crime continues to harm Scottish businesses and communities, with 417 metal related crimes reported between April to July 2016 resulting in close to a £600,000 estimated repair cost.

Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, said: “While most scrap dealers are law-abiding businesses, metal theft remains a severe problem in Scotland and so required us to put in place more effective regulation to make it harder for thieves to dispose of stolen metal. That is why we legislated through the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015, to tighten up controls on the metal dealer licensing regime.

“The changes now in force will raise standards within the industry – providing greater traceability and increasing penalties for offences, and representing a significant step up in the battle against metal theft.”

Metal Theft Lead for the SBRC, Jim Scott, welcomes the changes to law and believes it will drastically improve transparency within the wider scrap metal industry.

He said: “The reality of this criminal activity is that communities are acutely affected – whether through power outages from stolen copper at substations, disruption of rail journeys, or by costly damage to properties with lead stolen from roofing.

“By removing the incentive of cash trading, any scrap metal transactions will be fully traceable and we expect this to deter unscrupulous individuals from carrying out metal theft.

“This will be the culmination of over three years work with various partners including the main utility companies that were the victims of metal theft.

“The SBRC will continue to work with its partners to assist the industry through this substantial change and also to ensure that any dealers that revert to paying cash are identified and dealt with through the proper channels.”

An intensive week of activity is planned following an initial day of action coinciding with the change of law and authorities will then continue with a proactive approach enforcing the new law.

Prior to the change in law, the multi-agency backed Operation Scandium, was carried out to raise awareness of new legislation.

As part of a continuation of Operation Scandium, a year-long Crimestopper’s Scrap the Cash campaign will see over 150 billboard adverts appearing close to scrapyard dealerships in Scotland, together with targeted leaflets and a social media campaign.

Chief Superintendent John McBride, of British Transport Police, said: “Despite a decrease in reported offences, metal theft still incurs a significant cost to the Scottish economy and continues to disrupt and inconvenience our communities.

“By removing cash transactions from the metal industry and having more robust identification processes in place, this new legislation will make it more difficult for those involved in such criminality to dispose of stolen goods.

“By working in partnership with various agencies we will continue to target those involved in metal theft and will also work closely with the Scrap Metal Industry to ensure that any rogue dealers are identified and dealt with under the new legislation.”