RELATIVES of six former British soldiers who have been detained in India, have called on the Foreign ­Secretary to help secure their release.

The men, who include Scot Billy Irving, 33, from Connel in Argyll and Bute, are being held by local police after they were arrested for carrying weapons when their boat docked in Indian waters.

The group are all employed by private US security firm AdvanFort and have been hired to protect ships in the Indian Ocean from pirates. They were detained after their ship, the MV Seaman Ohio, took shelter from a typhoon at a port in southern India.

Yvonne MacHugh, Mr Irving's girlfriend, said: "They should not have been there. It's not their fault."

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said they were providing the men with consular assistance.