A Scots couple have been arrested in the Dominican Republic on suspicion of drug trafficking, the Foreign Office said last night.
A Scots couple have been arrested in the Dominican Republic on suspicion of drug trafficking, the Foreign Office said last night.
Kelly Carrigan and Daniel Patterson, who are understood to come from Glasgow, were reportedly detained at Punta Cana airport as they were about to return home.
It was reported yesterday that the woman's two sons, aged five and seven, had been taken into care at an orphanage, but the Foreign Office was unable to confirm this.
However, it confirmed consular staff have been checking on the welfare of the children.
The couple are understood to have been arrested on Thursday as they were about to board a Thomsonfly flight to London.
The Dominican Republic's National Drugs Control (DNCD) said the couple were carrying three packages of cocaine, weighing more than 4.5kg.
According to reports in the Caribbean country, DNCD spokesman Roberto Lebron said the cocaine was in found in Ms Carrigan's luggage.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Two British nationals were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking in the Dominican Republic. Next of kin have been informed and we are providing consular assistance."
There are severe penalties for drug offences in the Dominican Republic and possession of even small quantities of illegal drugs can lead to imprisonment.
Those who are convicted of possessing drugs are likely to receive a long prison sentence plus a hefty fine.
Arrests of British nationals for drugs possession when leaving the Dominican Republic have increased sharply since 2006.
The Dominican Drug Enforcement Agency has stepped up its efforts to clamp down on drugs with several recent successful operations.
Seizures at ports and airports around the Caribbean nation have increased and included a high number of foreigners, including British nationals, detected by sniffer-dog units.
The couple are the latest in a line of Scots arrested abroad on suspicion of possessing or trafficking drugs.
In 1993, Sandra Gregory, whose parents lived in Pitcaple, Aberdeenshire, was arrested at Bangkok airport and later jailed for 25 years for heroin smuggling after being found carrying 89g of the drug concealed in a condom in her body.
Ms Gregory spent four-and-a-half-years in the notorious Klom Peng prison in Bangkok, known as the "Bangkok Hilton", where up to 70 prisoners would share one cell and have to bathe in open sewers.
After a campaign by MPs, MSPs and human rights groups, she was released in July 2000 after serving seven-and-a-half years of her sentence, some of it in English prisons following a transfer back to Britain in 1997.
In 2002, a British engineer whose mother and sister live on the island of Bute was jailed for life in Thailand for trying to smuggle 4kg of heroin out of the country.
Julian Gilbey, 35, was sentenced to death initially, but the judge commuted the sentence to life imprisonment because he had signed a confession.
In 2003, Patrick Quinn, from Maryhill in Glasgow, was jailed after being arrested with two Germans in the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai with 0.15g of heroin, six methamphetamine tablets, and nine empty syringes.
A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said the force had not as yet been informed of the latest arrests.
