Drug offences top cause of Brit arrests abroad

UK Foreign Office figures show that 20 per cent of all arrests of Britons abroad are related to drug offences.

Currently, 22 Britons are facing capital charges around the world related to drug offences, the figures indicate.

Excess drinking is also listed as a major factor in arrests of Britons travelling abroad, and also in their needing hospital treatment, according to the Foreign Office.

During the period from April 2008 to March 2009, the figures show that more Britons were either arrested or hospitalised in Spain than anywhere else.

As a proportion of visitor numbers, the arrest of Britons was the most likely in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and hospitalisation was most likely in Thailand.

The Foreign Office figures also indicated that there were 991 Britons arrested on drug offences around the world in the 12-month period from April 2008 to March 2009.

In Thailand, drugs accounted for 25 per cent of all arrests of Britons.

In actual numbers of arrests, the greatest number occurred in Spain, at 2,290, which was followed by the US, with 1,534 arrests and the UAE, at 294. Overstaying visas was a large factor in the high number of offences abroad.

The highest numbers of hospitalisations occurred in Spain, with 741, followed by Greece, with 433, France, with 203 and Thailand, with 198.

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