The long arm of the law reached out at Delimara yesterday as illegal structures were reduced to rubble after the Malta Environment and Planning Authority took direct action to demolish them.

The enforcement officers, assisted by police officers from the administrative law enforcement section, were on site at 5 a.m. to start the operation to reverse the impact caused by the structures.

A series of rooms were demolished and a passage way was cleared so that other structures will be torn down, a Mepa spokesman said.

Other illegal structures, which cannot be demolished because their owners have filed an appeal or a court case, have been sealed so they will not be used.

The owner of a room that was to be demolished filed a court application to thwart Mepa's action only yesterday morning. Mepa is using the legal measures available to it, ranging from the imposition of fines to impeding the transfer of ownership. "The actual demolition of the illegal structure is just one enforcement mechanism available to Mepa," the spokesman said.

Last year, in about a third of enforcement cases, the owners themselves were persuaded by the authority to remove the illegal structure. A total of 285 cases were resolved in this manner. Mepa said the larger the illegality, the greater the incentive of those responsible to use legal means to delay the eventual removal.

"For this reason, more serious illegalities take longer to address, giving the impression that Mepa is being weak with the strong. The truth is that Mepa is bound to strictly abide by legislation and, unless the legislation is amended, the delaying tactics by those responsible for the illegalities cannot be circumvented," it said.