POLICE have arrested a scrap metal seller - thanks to detailed records kept by a secondhand goods dealer.

During a routine check on secondhand goods dealers, officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division were alerted to a transaction involving a large quantity of loose metals and metal drain gratings weighing 1,050kg.

The transaction took place on Jan 7 at Defu Industrial Estate.

"As the secondhand goods dealer had kept detailed records, police were able to trace the seller's particulars," said a police statement on Thursday.

Under the new Secondhand Goods Dealer Act 2007, which came into force Dec 1 last year, secondhand goods dealers trading in items such as copper, stainless steel, aluminium, steel or brass or a composite of such metals, must keep proper records on the sellers.

Dealers of such metals are also required to make payment to sellers of scrap metal using only crossed cheques.

Police said on Wednesday afternoon, the officers on ambush spotted the same man at a shop dealing in recycling of metal parts at Woodlands Industrial Park E.

The 39-year-old Indian man was found with six bars of reinforced metal weighing a total of 700kg.

He was arrested and will be charged in court on Friday for fraudulent possession of property.

The offence carries a fine of up to $2,000 or imprisonment up to a year, or with both.

Commander Ang Mo Kio Police Division, Superintendent Lee Chin Ek, commended the secondhand goods dealers for helping police to tackle the problem of metal theft, saying that the some of the items targeted, such as lightning conductors, drain gratings and covers and dry-riser lugs, pose a danger to public safety.