Almost 200 foreign criminal suspects were arrested every day by Britain’s largest police force in 2011

Just over 72,500 – a third of the total arrested – were held by the Metropolitan Police and questioned about crimes including murder, rape, robbery and fraud. The figure is up almost a quarter on two years ago when 58,870 non-British suspects were arrested in London. The rising trend is mirrored elsewhere, with Britain’s second largest force, West Midlands Police, arresting 11,801 between April 2011 and March 2012. That is an increase of more than half on the previous 12 months when 7,716 foreign suspects were held. Meanwhile, the number of foreign criminals who were convicted and deported countrywide fell from 5,342 in 2010 to 4,649 in 2011.