Foreign arrests of Britons from 2015-17 highest in Spain

More Britons have been arrested by foreign police in Spain than any other country over the last two-and-a-half years, according to official figures.

The coastal resort of Alicante, on the south-eastern coastline popular with ex-pats and those on bargain breaks, saw the most Britons arrested of any destination between 2015 and summer 2017.

According to data released by the Foreign Office (FCO) under freedom of information (FOI) laws, 655 Brits were arrested or detained in Alicante during this period.

In total, some 2,590 people from Britain were held in Spain over the last two-and-a-half years - more than in any other country, according to the FCO data.

The US was the second most prolific, with 2,045 arrests, ahead of the United Arab Emirates (809), France (489) and Thailand (462).

After Alicante, Dubai was the destination with the next greatest number of Britons detained - at 524 - ahead of Bangkok (454), Miami (445) and Malaga (441).

The data showed a rise in Britons arrested abroad between 2015 and 2016, in the five countries with the highest numbers of detentions.

The increase from 2,541 to 3,095 represents a rise of 21.8%.

There were 786 arrests across those five countries in 2017 to date.