SIBU: Dealers in scrap metal here have been urged to get registered for a licence to trade, so police can keep tabs on legitimate transactions.
Deputy police chief Supt Martin Koo, who made the call, said police raided two scrap metal outlets early this month in Ops Lusuh and seized some stolen cables.
He said yesterday that he knew of only one dealer who had registered while over 20 others were known to be operating without a licence, which gives rise to questionable trade.
He said a briefing would be held between them and the Sibu Municipal Council to facilitate their application for a licence.
“My men will also attend the briefing,” he said.
Supt Koo said scrap metal dealers would need to record the details of their customers.
Meanwhile, police here arrested a man found sleeping in the bushes yesterday morning and recovered from him two bags of stolen cables.
The suspect in his 20s was said to have climbed into a store on the first floor of a building in Brooke Drive yesterday morning.
He carried the cables to the locked grill door at the staircases and climbed out of the premises.
The man then lifted out the items through the grill from the outside and stuffed them in two bags before carrying them to a bush 200 metres away for burning.
Members of the public who spotted the fire called for the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba).
Police on patrol found him sleeping in a nearby bush and detained him — with motive yet unclear.