A 22-year-old New Zealander is being detained in Peru for allegedly attempting to smuggle cocaine -- one of a growing number of Kiwis banged up abroad.
Jesse Barry Prouse was allegedly found at a Lima hostel on May 28 with 49 capsules of cocaine, which he planned to smuggle to Europe, according to local media reports.
Reports are conflicting as to whether he ingested the capsules. One says he was arrested after swallowing the drugs and running out of a Miraflores hostel to seek medical help, another alleged that he was about to swallow them when he was arrested.
Prouse is being held at the Miguel Castro Castro Correctional Institution in Lima's San Juan de Lurigancho district. New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance.
Consular representatives from the New Zealand Embassy in Chile -- accredited to Peru -- and the office of the New Zealand Honorary Consul in Lima had visited Prouse in prison and would continue to provide support. The embassy and MFAT are also providing advice and support to his family.
It is understood Prouse's mother, who lives in Brisbane where she works in a hair salon, is currently overseas.
The justice system in Peru is notoriously slow. Many detainees wait long periods in the country's tough prisons before they are sentenced.
According to MFAT figures, released under the Official Information Act, there has been an increase in the number of New Zealanders seeking consular assistance after being arrested abroad in the past three years.
In 2011/12, 104 Kiwis sought help after being arrested. The number increased to 117 in 2012/13 and jumped to 157 in 2013/14.
The highest number of arrests this year has been in China where 21 Kiwis have contacted their embassy. In 2012/13 it was the United States with 12, and in 2011/12 it was Australia with 18.
Kiwis have been arrested in some of the most far-flung corners of the earth, including Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Egypt, Botswana, Oman and Papua New Guinea.
Fifty-four New Zealanders being held in detention as at August 29 have also sought consular assistance.
At that time, 14 New Zealanders were being held in the US, eight in Australia, six each in China and Thailand, three each in Canada and the United Arab Emirates and two each in Cambodia and Peru.
New Zealanders were also being detained in Ecuador, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Samoa and Vanuatu.
- Matthew Theunissen of the Herald on Sunday
