Comino beach attendants give Mepa officers' raid the slip

Three beach attendants operating illegally in Comino did not show up for work yesterday after they got wind of a raid by the planning authority.

Enforcement officers swooped down on Comino at 9.30 a.m. ready to confiscate deckchairs and umbrellas that usually cram the tiny beaches, but when they got there they found nothing but sea and sand - together with a few concrete umbrella bases strewn around.

But they did not go back empty handed. After a careful search on the island, the enforcement officers found over 400 deckchairs and over 100 umbrellas hidden behind walls and trees.

These, together with the concrete bases, were collected and ferried over to Malta.

It was very clear the attendants, who are facing the enforcement notices, knew about the cleanup operation, a planning authority spokesman said.

He pointed out that it was not clear where the leak came from as there were several organisations involved, including the police and the maritime authority.

Two of the enforcement notices date back to 2008, while a third was issued almost two weeks ago, the spokesman explained.

The small beaches are usually full of deckchairs and umbrellas - illegally - leaving hardly any space to open out a towel.