POWERS intended to help catch terrorists, have been used by Bexley Council to gain evidence against people for graffiti and flytipping.

In the last two years Bexley has used the powers, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), 13 times mainly to combat licensing offences.

The details have been released by Big Brother Watch, a campaign group fighting to protect liberty and personal privacy.

RIPA powers, introduced in 2000, allow for the use of surveillance and covert intelligence sources and give access computer data and phonecalls.

Councils have been increasingly using them to catch people for for lesser crimes such as dog fouling or breaching the smoking ban.

According to Big Brother Watch’s figures, Bexley used the RIPA powers eight times in 2008/9 and five times in 2009/10.

In 2008/9 all of the uses were in connection with licensing, mostly to catch premises or adults providing alcohol to under-age drinkers.

Bexley’s use of the powers in the last year has been more varied.

Two were connected with licensing, but two involved graffiti and the other was flytipping.

The new coalition government says it will ban councils from using RIPA powers without permission from a magistrate.

A spokeswoman for Bexley Council said its use of RIPA powers was approved by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners, and is checked every two years.

She added: “Bexley rarely uses covert surveillance powers, and does so only when there is a clear public interest.”