HOLIDAY revellers heading for party resort Ayia Napa were today given a drugs warning after two men were jailed for three years for importing ecstasy.

And Burnley MP Peter Pike said Paul Hartley, 25, a married man with two children, of Burnley, and Lee Mortimer, 22, of Padiham, had got what they deserved.

The two men took 184 ecstasy pills onto the island and were arrested on June 13 on suspicion of dealing, after they had been shown a video with the message "drugs and Cyprus equals jail" during the flight to the island. They were originally facing a sentence of at least seven years for supplying drugs but received a lesser sentence after pleading guilty to importing and possession.

Judge Andreas Paschalides said in Larnaca he was handing down stiff sentences because the resort of Ayia Napa had a fast growing reputation "as a paradise for drugs."

Police found the ecstasy pills during a search of their apartment after they were detained in the main square of Ayia Napa, on the island's south coast, .

"A deterrent sentence needs to be handed down to curb the plague of drugs on society," the judge said.

A spokesman at the British High Commission in Cyprus said they had been in touch indirectly with the two men's families through the Foreign Office.

He said it would be normal for people sent to prison on the island to serve their sentences locally rather than be transferred to a prison in England.

He said prison conditions were "good" although there was the obvious problem of being thousands of miles away from their families. Burnley MP Peter Pike said neither family had been in touch with him but if they did so he would look into the case.

But he warned that British people who broke the law of the country they were visiting could not expect preferential treatment.

He said: "Anyone who goes abroad and breaks the law must recognised that penalties can be severe and it is made worse if they are imprisoned abroad.

"They are taking a gamble and they must accept they can lose. The key message to go out is an absolutely clear warning particularly to young people that they are putting themselves at risk. Therefore, they should not take drugs into other countries or become involved with drugs while they are there."

Police are taking a zero tolerance approach to drugs on the holiday island.

A total of 42 young Britons have been arrested on drug-related charges in Ayia Napa since April 1. Cyprus expects about three million tourists this year, half of them from Britain. Tens of thousands of young people head for Ayia Napa, which is among Europe's top clubbing destinations.

The government is anxious to maintain the island's image as a tourist destination with a low rate of crime and drug abuse.

Britain is backing Cyprus' efforts to curb drugs through the screening of a special video on flights to the island. The message of the video is "drugs and Cyprus equals jail."

Cyprus earns more than £700 million from tourism every year and about 20 per cent of the island's work force is employed in the sector.