Bali drug arrest Britons remain in custody

Lindsay Sandiford appeared at a news conference at an airport in Bali

Four Britons remain in custody in Bali over a £1.6m cocaine haul amid claims that they may face the death penalty.

The Foreign Office confirmed Indonesian police were holding Rachel Dougall, Julian Ponder and Paul Beales.

They were detained <link> <caption>following the arrest of Lindsay Sandiford,</caption> <url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18231898" platform="highweb"/> </link> whose last known address was in Gloucestershire.

Ms Dougall later shouted through the bars of her cell to an ITV News crew at Bali police headquarters: "It's a fit-up; get us a decent lawyer."

She also said she was being treated "badly".

Ms Dougall and Mr Ponder are believed to be a couple from Brighton with a young daughter.

Ms Dougall's father Barry, also from Brighton, said the situation was a "nightmare".

"I just can't believe it. As far as I know she's never been in trouble or anything, even when she was young.

"I'm going to try to get in contact with as many people as I can, see what we can do. Obviously our hands are tied being where she is and where I am."

Anti-drug laws

Following the arrests Indonesian customs officer Made Wijaya said: "This is a big international network. The charge against them would carry the death penalty."

But customs officials are also reported to have said that Mrs Sandiford, 55, originally from Redcar, Teesside, whose last known address was in Cheltenham, may be spared the death sentence because she helped to catch three other members of the smuggling operation - who according to Indonesian law could face a firing squad.

Mrs Sandiford was allegedly caught with 4.8kg of the drug on her arrival on the island.

Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world.

The death penalty has been used in the past for drug traffickers, but in recent years it has been applied infrequently.

More than 140 people are on death row in the country, a third of them foreigners.