LONDON (Reuters) - Traders and brokers arrested in an insider dealing probe in London last week have had their assets frozen, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said yesterday, and must live on £300 ($451) a week, a source close to the probe added.

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and SOCA, a special police unit, last week arrested seven men on suspicion of insider dealing.

The six which have been identified include dealers at large investment banks and a major hedge fund, Moore Capital.

"We do have restraint orders in place against all seven of the people arrested in connection with the insider dealing inquiry," a SOCA spokesman said.

"It prevents anyone of realising or disposing of any assets until such time as the investigation is concluded," he added.

A source close to the probe said that, under the orders, the men were only allowed to spend £300 a week to cover all their families' needs including food, utility bills, mortgage payments and school fees.

The UK minimum wage is £5.80/hour and given most people on trading floors work at least 10 hours a day, the weekly limit is in line with earnings of staff who clean the arrested men's places of work.

The men must now apply to the courts to have their assets unfrozen or to have the spending limit raised.

However, even legal costs must be covered by the £300/week limit which means they must receive assistance from friends to fight the restraint or rely on legal aid.

However, the latter is a risk.

"Legal aid lawyers are good at what they know but they don't know much about restraints."

Those arrested include Clive Roberts, the head of European sales at BNP Paribas's partly-owned Exane brokerage unit, Martyn Dodgson, a corporate broker at Deutsche Bank, Julian Rifat, an equities trader at hedge fund Moore Capital and Graeme Shelley, an equities trader with small broker Novum Securities.

Two of the others, Iraj Parvizi and Ben Anderson are private investors, while the seventh has not been identified.

Lawyers for Rifat and Parvizi declined comment. Anderson did not reply to telephone calls, while Dodgson, Shelley and Roberts were not contactable.