Every year, countless Brits find themselves on the wrong end of the law whilst on their holidays, and for some of them the consequences can be life changing in the extreme.
When most people pack for their holidays, they bring the essentials: toothbrush, sun cream and pants – but other tourists bring 2kg of cocaine and counterfeit money.
And those that do break foreign laws, regardless of whether they claimed they meant to, can soon be staring down the barrel of enormous jail sentences.
Whether, it’s by bringing drugs into a country ‘by accident’ or being caught spending counterfeit cash in a nightclub, Brits have found a number of ingenious ways to get themselves locked up over the years.
And they can’t rely on the Foreign Office to help them out either.
Although the government will endeavor to help British citizens in trouble abroad, there powers are extremely limited when it comes to freeing prisoners from jail sentences.
As a result, countless Brits are having to come to terms with whiling away their lives in foreign jails due to one mistake.
So from being caught with a CBD pen in Dubai to flashing monopoly money in a Moroccan club, these are some of the silliest things Brits are doing hard time across the world for.
Billy Hood, 27, from west London , is serving ten years in a Dubai prison for ‘unintentionally’ possessing CBD vape oil
Billy Hood – Jailed for ten years for possession of CBD oil
Billy Hood, 27, from west London, is serving ten years in a Dubai prison for ‘unintentionally’ possessing CBD vape oil.
During his incarceration, he has been isolated in a cell that could only fit a mattress, according to Detained in Dubai – an organisation that helps foreign nationals arrested in the Emirate.
Mr Hood had his 25 year sentence for possessing CBD vape oil reduced to 10 years at appeal.
He was arrested in January 2021 and in October convicted of drug trafficking with intent to supply after the vape oil was found in the boot of his car.
In November, his case was brought in front of an Abu Dhabi appeal court, which recognised Mr Hood had ‘unintentionally possessed’ the drugs but had no ‘intent to supply’, and reduced the term by 15 years.
Following the appeals judgement in November, Ms Stirling slammed Dubai police for ‘forcing [Mr Hood] to confess with promises of his imminent release’.
Mr Hood’s best friend Alfie Cain previously claimed he told him he was slapped, tasered, beaten for five days to make him sign a confession and only given bread and small amounts of water while in a Dubai prison.
He told Mr Cain he only signed a confession to the drugs charges, which was written in Arabic, because officers said if he did the abuse would stop.
Hood, 27, (pictured with his grandmother) was arrested in January 2021, and convicted by a Emirati court of drug trafficking with intent to supply and sentenced to 25 years behind bars
Family members have said he was so frightened and tired that he agreed to sign a confession not knowing he had admitted to such serious crimes.
Speaking about Mr Hood’s confession, Mr Cain said: ‘Billy said they told him he could go home if he signed the paper, that’s why he gave in and signed that piece of paper in Arabic he had no idea what he signing, but he just wanted to make it stop.’
Ms Stirling previously accused the UAE of forming a ‘manufactured a case’ against Mr Hood, but the Emirate has denied this, saying that he was charged based on a number of items found in his vehicle.
A previous statement from the UAE Public Prosecution said: ‘Mr. Hood was found to be in possession of quantities of synthetic cannabis oil.
‘The Police search of Mr Hood’s vehicle found the cannabis oil, substantial amounts of cash, an electronic hookah, various storage bottles and boxes, and 570 individual cartridges to be used for substance vaping.
‘Mr. Hood was convicted based on evidence including the items found in his possession, information on his phone, third party statement, and his own confession.’
Police in Dubai are thought to have singled out Mr Hood after monitoring WhatsApp messages and looking for key words related to drugs.
A week before his arrest the friend who owned the vape liquid sent a message telling Hood he had mistakenly left it behind in his car.
Hood, who played semi-professional football for Kensington and Ealing Borough FC, was stunned when police unexpectedly turned up at his flat in January and demanded to search his home and company car.
Four small vials of vape liquid containing cannabis oil (CBD) and a vape pen were later found in the passenger door compartment.
After his arrest, Hood volunteered to take a urine test for drugs which came back negative.
Vape liquid containing CBD with less than 0.2% of THC is legal in the UK, but is illegal in Dubai where there is a zero tolerance to drugs (stock image)
Mr Hood’s best friend Alfie Cain (pictured on Good Morning Britain) previously claimed he told him he was slapped, tasered, beaten for five days to make him sign a confession
Vape liquid containing CBD (cannabis oil) is sold by high street stores in the UK and perfectly legal although they must contain less than 0.2 per cent of THC which is the ingredient that leads to users getting ‘high’.
Police also found a few thousand pounds in cash in his flat but Mr Hood’s employers told police they had paid him they money while his bank account was being set up.
He said one of the arresting officers said they were interested in him from social media but did not take his phone or computer. He maintains there was no mention of the vape liquid on social media but in one WhatsApp message.
James Louise Swain – Facing twenty years in a Thai jail for alleged cocaine possession
James Louise Swan, 29, is facing up to 20 years in a Thai prison after he was allegedly caught with a bag of cocaine hidden in his passport by immigration staff.
The Londoner arrived in Phuket, Thailand on an Etihad Airways flight this May before the trouble began.
When he handed his passport to an immigration officer, the cop noticed a small plastic bag with white powder inside when flicking through the document to find an empty page to place the visa stamp.
Officers said that Swain reacted with surprise, before he started swearing and shaking, prompting authorities to conduct further inspections and scanning his luggage.
He was arrested at Phuket International Airport, where police tested the substance found in his passport and confirmed it was 0.42 grams of cocaine.
Jamie Louis Swain (pictured), 29, from Enfield, north London, arrived in Phuket, Thailand on an Etihad Airways flight on Thursday night
When he handed his passport to an immigration officer, the cop noticed a small plastic bag (pictured) with white powder inside when flicking through the document to find an empty page to place the visa stamp
Officers said that Swain reacted with surprise, before he started swearing and shaking
This prompted authorities to conduct further inspections and scanning his luggage (pictured above)
He was arrested at Phuket International Airport, where police tested the substance found in his passport and confirmed it was 0.42 grams of cocaine
Police Colonel Padthongtew Damapong, superintendent of Phuket Airport Immigration, said: ‘An immigration officer found the cocaine when she was checking the tourist’s passport.
‘The suspect was charged with importing category II narcotics, namely cocaine, into the country and possessing them.
‘The suspect was handed over to Sakhu Police Station for further legal action.’
Under Thailand’s Narcotics Act, importing cocaine into the country carries a maximum jail term of 20 years to life and a fine of £43,000 to 108,000 (2,000,000 – 5,000,000 Baht).
Cocaine possession is punishable with up to five years or a fine not exceeding £2,000 (100,000 Baht) or both.
Modou Adams – Jailed for six years for smuggling cocaine
Last year, a British male model who flaunted his jet set lifestyle on social media was jailed for nearly seven years in Peru after being caught trying to fly out of the country with £300,000 worth of cocaine.
Londoner Modou Adams wowed his thousands of social media fans with his trendsetting looks and VIP globetrotting under the self-styled moniker of ‘boywholives’ in a show of excess branded by authorities as a front for his criminal activities.
His apparent world of glamour now lies in in tatters however after he confessed to being a drug trafficker and was told he now faces the next six years and eight months in a hellhole South American jail.
Adams, 25, was held at Lima’s international airport as he tried to check in for a flight to London via Paris with almost three kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.
He was handed his sentence in a rapid trial 24 hours after his arrest by the same police force that held Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, the so-called Peru Two in August 2013.
Londoner Modou Adams wowed his thousands of social media fans with his trendsetting looks and VIP globetrotting
Adams, 25, was held at Lima’s international airport as he tried to check in for a flight to London via Paris with almost three kilos of cocaine in his suitcase
Adams, a former marketing and public relations intern, is described online as an ‘experienced’ model
His apparent world of glamour today lay in tatters after he confessed to being a drug trafficker and was told he now faces the next six years and eight months in a hellhole South American jail
Modou, a former marketing and public relations intern described online as an ‘experienced’ model, made a very public show of his second fateful trip to the South American country on Tiktok and Instagram.
He filmed himself posing as a tourist in Cuco, a favourite cocaine pick-up for drug mules and the city McCollum and Reid visited before their arrests, and posted selfies on the road to Andes Mountains Incan citadel Machu Picchu.
The glamour shots prompted one of his 11,200 Instagram fans to tell him: ‘Wow Mo! You look amazing.’
Another said: ‘You are living the dream’, prompting Adams to respond: ‘Life is a dream always.’
Peru’s Supreme Court confirmed the jail sentence in a statement where it referred to the Brit by his full name of Modou Dodou Adams and described him as a Tiktoker alongside an unflattering photoshopped picture showing him behind bars.
Revealing he had been jailed by a court in Lima’s Callao district specialising in punishing crimes where offenders have been arrested while committing an offence or immediately afterwards, it said: ‘Tiktoker Modou Dodou Adams, 25, has been jailed for six years and eight months for having co-ordinated the dispatch of nearly three kilos of cocaine to London.
‘The sentence was delivered in less than 24 hours after the accused man admitted the crime he had been charged with.’
Oliver Andrews – Jailed for ten years in Morocco for spending counterfeit money
Oliver Andrews, 29, was sent down for 10 years in a Moroccan jail after he was found guilty of possessing and spending counterfeit money in Marrakech.
Mr Andrews was arrested along with a friend on the morning of November 11 last year, just hours after they’d returned from a nightclub on the final night of their holiday to the Moroccan capital.
They were immediately detained pending an investigation and it was determined that both Andrews and his friend had used counterfeit money in the club.
After languishing in prison on remand for five months, the pair were convicted and sentenced to a decade behind bars on April 11.
Andrews maintains he did not know the money he spent was counterfeit.
His partner Alanna Cornick told the BBC after the sentencing: ‘I’ve been an absolute mess. I’m lost for words – I literally can’t believe it,’ describing her partner’s jail term as ‘the worst possible outcome’.
Oliver Andrews, 29, was arrested along with a friend on the morning of November 11 last year
Andrews was found guilty of possessing and spending counterfeit money in Morocco. His partner Alanna Cornick (right) described his conviction as ‘the worst possible outcome’
Cornick told the BBC after the sentencing: ‘I’ve been an absolute mess. I’m lost for words – I literally can’t believe it’
Andrews’ family claimed his treatment at the hands of Moroccan authorities was deplorable.
The family said the two defendants were not given an official translator or the opportunity to speak to a lawyer when they were taken in for questioning and were ‘pressured into signing foreign paperwork’ which they didn’t fully understand.
His family also said Andrews suffers from a heart condition and requires daily medication but was prevented from accessing them for more than a month, raising serious health concerns.
Andrews’ solicitor confirmed to the BBC earlier this year he and his friend had also been charged with creating an organised crime group in addition to the counts of possessing and using counterfeit money.
They were acquitted of the organised crime charge last week.
Back in February, Andrews’ family also claimed he had not received any help from British authorities despite being adamant he had no idea some of the money he spent was counterfeit.
Andrews’ family said he was not given the chance to speak to a lawyer or have a translator when taken in by police
Oliver Andrews, from Bournemouth, had travelled with a friend to Marrakech when they were arrested in November (Andrews pictured with partner Alanna)
‘It’s been the most emotional 24 hours ever. We’ve just got to stay hopeful and keep our fingers crossed,’ Cornick said at her partner’s sentencing
‘The British Embassy in Morocco and the FCDO have refused to get involved,’ they told the BBC, adding that when they visited Andrews he was ‘in a very deteriorating mental and physical state’.
Cornick said: ‘We just want to the embassy to do their job and go and visit him, and make sure to check on his welfare.
‘The condition that he’s living in is just heart-breaking on a daily basis,’ she added, claiming he’d told her on the phone he was having suicidal thoughts.
When contacted by MailOnline, the FCDO responded: ‘We are supporting two British men who are detained in Morocco.’
Ricky Grant Courage – Facing 20 years in a Columbian jail for drug smuggling
In September, a Scottish tourist was arrested and remanded in custody after allegedly trying to fly out of Colombia with nearly two kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.
The 32-year-old man, named locally as Ricky Grant Courage, was held at Rafael Nunez International Airport which serves the Caribbean port city of Cartagena.
Prosecutors said he was planning to return to the UK with the drugs, detected by sniffer dogs put to work on luggage that had already been checked in.
Colombian authorities went public with the arrest in October.
The suspected drug courier has been remanded in San Sebastian Ternera Prison in Cartagena on the orders of a judge while the investigation against him continues.
The 32-year-old man, named locally as Ricky Grant Courage (pictured), was held at Rafael Nunez International Airport which serves the Caribbean port city of Cartagena
Pictured above is Rafael Nunez International Airport in Cartagena, where the Scottish tourist was arrested
It was not immediately clear last night how long he would be held before bars before being told if and when he is going to be put on trial.
Pictures of the bearded Scot in court, wearing a blue T-shirt, have been published by local press.
Colombia’s Public Prosecution Service said in a statement: ‘The material evidence provided by a prosecutor from the Immediate Reaction Unit (URI) allowed a judge to remand Scottish citizen Ricky Grant Courage, suspected of being responsible for the crime of manufacturing, trafficking or carrying narcotics, in prison.
‘His arrest took place on September 29 at Cartagena airport where the 32-year-old foreigner tried to board a flight to Scotland, carrying 1.976kg of cocaine.
‘The illegal substance was detected in the defendant’s suitcase during the police inspection with sniffer dogs carried out on luggage that had already been checked in for international flights.
‘Among the foreigner’s personal belongings, six packages covered with black plastic were found. He did not accept his responsibility for the crime he was accused of.
‘By judicial order his confinement will take place in San Sebastián Ternera prison in Cartagena.’
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