In May 2025, we highlighted an emerging trend among the people we support: an increase in the number of British people arrested around the world for drugs-related arrests, with a particular rise amongst women and people under 35.

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Some of these arrests have featured extensively in the media, with young women and their families facing particularly negative reporting. We discussed this – and the impact of imprisonment on women more generally – in a recent article here, noting that while arrests are no longer increasing at the same rates as April-June 2025, many of the people arrested at that time are still in prison and now facing long sentences in countries where poor prison conditions are prevalent – and will need our ongoing support.

The overall number of people currently requiring our support sits at 1,166. Of these, 543 have been arrested since April 2025, which is a 10% increase on the total number of new arrests the previous year.*

• 54% (287) of these new arrests have been related to a drugs offence. Last year, this number was 243 and the year before 155, so there has been a noted and continued increase.
• 19% of all new cases are women – whereas last year this was 13% and just 5% in 2021-22.
• Of the new cases that involve women, over 65% have been arrested for a drugs offence and 60% of them are under the age of 35.
• Similarly, 68% of all new cases are people under the age of 35.

The last time we saw a similar increase in the arrests of British women abroad was around 20 years ago when drug trafficking through the Caribbean reached its peak – and our statistics seem again to suggest that drugs have a significant part to play in the current situation.

As the work of Prisoners Abroad is primarily to provide welfare support and is therefore reactive to the need, we aren’t able to paint a full picture of the reasoning behind this increase. We do however work closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to deliver our overseas work and to promote their Travel Aware campaign, and both the FCDO and National Crime Agency (NCA) have noted a sharp increase in drug smuggling arrests involving British Nationals, both abroad and in the UK.

Some (but not all) of our cases are linked to cannabis originating from Thailand, where the drug was decriminalised in 2022; we have seen arrests across 22 countries that can in some way be traced back to Thailand. The rise in arrests could be due to a poor understanding of Thai laws, and part of it is the work of organised crime groups, with the NCA linking the smuggling of cannabis to international criminal networks. It seems a number of people have been offered money or free holidays in exchange for carrying bags through customs. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s recent Travel Aware campaign has highlighted the risks of carrying cannabis out of Thailand, with reference to possible coercion and grooming.

* Reporting runs April-March and current figures in this article are as of 28/01/2026.

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If you are a British citizen who has been arrested abroad, or you know someone who has, you can get in contact with us here.

If you would like to support the work of Prisoners Abroad in providing non-judgemental welfare support and advice to people in prison abroad and their family members, you can do so here.

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