North East MSPs Alex Johnstone and Richard Baker have called on the Scottish Government to do more to end the scourge of metal thefts.
The cost of metal theft to the UK economy is put at £770 million a year and the Association of British Insurers says its members pay out more than £1 million a week in compensation.
Railway lines, churches, construction sites and roads are among the most common targets. In July, thieves desecrated a cenotaph in Milnathort, tearing off a bronze plaque bearing the names of soldiers who died in two world wars.
A bronze statue of a soldier was also stolen from a memorial in East Wemyss and thieves stole £5,000 worth of manhole covers from roads in rural Angus.
A metal double garage was also stolen in Forfar with the thieves putting their lives at risk by bursting through asbestos panels. The Government has been urged to take a tougher approach to scrap metal dealers to cut off the market for stolen metal.
Mr Baker said: “I am gobsmacked at the irresponsibly complacent attitude of ministers to metal theft. It is a significant and growing problem which risks lives and causes substantial damage.
“The SNP Government has failed to move quickly to help close the loopholes which make metal theft more attractive to criminals. The best thing that can be done is to make cash payments for metal illegal.”
People travelling between Aberdeen and Inverness by train were held up in July because thieves stole around 800 metres of cable from the line.
It was one of a series of opportunistic thefts that causes 117 hours of train service delays in Britain each and every week.
Mr Johnstone said: “There is no room for complacency here, the Scottish Government must play a more proactive role and act now to end the scourge of metal thefts.”
The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland recently put the cost of metal theft in Scotland at £7.5 million for 2011 and £2.8 million for the first half of 2012.
In a bid to crackdown on this black market, the Government in Westminster banned cash payments for metal at the end of last year.
In April, the Scottish Government held a consultation with a view to introducing a tougher licensing regime and also banning cash payment for metal.