AN English teacher is facing up to 28 years in an overcrowded Thai jail after being arrested for drugs offences.

Today the devastated father of Christopher Egan was preparing to fly to northern Thailand in a bid to free his son.

Foreign Office officials said Christopher, 34, who formerly lived with his family in Blackburn, was arrested in the city of Chiang Mai on suspicion of narcotics offences last week.

The former pupil at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, had been working as an English teacher in the town, close to Thailand's border with Burma.

His father Tony Egan, of Whalley, said he had been jailed after being caught with 11 ecstasy tablets on the day he was due to return to East Lancashire to see his family.

As well as a lengthy sentence, the family are preparing themselves for a wait of up to two years before the case goes to trial.

Mr Egan, 62, a former accountant and Blackburn Round Table member, who was national treasurer for the organisation, believes his son could have been using the drug but doubts if he was ever a dealer. He said: "I abhor drugs and drug dealers but I'm not naive. We suspected he had dabbled in drugs but he told us he was well aware of the severe penalties dished out to drug dealers in Thailand."

A spokesman for Amnesty International said the town's prison, like many others in Thailand, could get overcrowded and they had concerns about how inmates were treated.

Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has declared war on drugs and has called for the country's courts to deal with those found guilty to be dealt with in the harshest possible way.

His latest campaign is thought to have wide support among the public, as Thais are desperate to tackle the high rate of methamphetamine and ecstacy addiction in Thailand.

Police officials say they are already seeing the results of the crackdown as it has driven up the price of a methamphetamine pill from 80 baht ($1.86) to 300 baht ($7).

Thailand still has a mandatory death sentence for certain drug offences, although Mr Egan said he had been told this would not apply to his son.

He added: "We have been given a great deal of help by the Foreign Office and we have been told that Christopher is not facing the death penalty."

Mr Egan said his son would be jailed for a minimum of eight years if convicted, a sentence which could rise to 28 years.

"The jails over there are not like ours. We have been told that Chiang Mai's prison, where Christopher is being held, hasn't got enough beds and he could be sleeping on the floor" he added. "They aren't too bothered about having people waiting around for trial either."

Mr Egan, who is currently on holiday with his wife Joan, 62, said he was preparing to start a 30-hour journey from the family's holiday home in Ibiza to northern Thailand, via mainland Spain and London.

He added: "We are all absolutely distraught. Luckily he had enough credit on his mobile telephone to callus us but the money ran down very quickly and we lost him.

"We are trying to live as normal a life as possible but we are living every parent's nightmare. It's almost like a bereavement."

A Foreign Office spokesman said they were providing the family with legal support and that British diplomats had been made aware of the case.

Mr Egan said he wanted people who knew his son to write letters to him. "I have been told that prisoners get a great deal of comfort from letters so I would love anyone who knew to send as many as they can."