The number of Romanian crime suspects arrested has surged by 80 per cent in some areas to over 18,000 nationwide in the past year alone.

Shocking figures show in Thames Valley arrests of Romanians rose by 86 per cent after officers nicked 1,370 last year compared with 735 in 2014.

Wiltshire police force saw a surge of 82 per cent while West Murcia, Gloucestershire and Suffolk divisions also saw high increases.

The number of Romanian crime suspects arrested has surged by 80 per cent in some areas to over 18,000 nationwide in the past year alone (stock image)

A Freedom of Information request by The Sun on Sunday asked all 44 forces in England and Wales to provide data.

Of the 34 that were able to supply answers, 23 had seen a rise in the arrest of Romanians.

Across England and Wales there were 18,127 arrests of Romanians in 2015, a four per cent increase from 2014, and 7,895 of those were in London.

They included eight for murder, three for kidnapping, and one for being drunk in charge of a child.

Of the 439 Romanians arrested by British Transport Police, 11 were held for alleged sex offences on trains.

A study last year figures showed that Romanians had overtaken other nationalities to top the league table of foreign inmates jailed in Britain.

Romanians are at least eight times more likely to be jailed here than Britons, the figures showed.

A study last year figures showed that Romanians had overtaken other nationalities to top the league table of foreign inmates jailed in Britain

Tables which covered prisoners jailed between October 2013 and March 2014, represented the most comprehensive breakdown of inmates’ countries of origin.

They revealed marked differences in the likelihood of different nationalities to be jailed, when adjusted for the number of those nationals living in Britain.

Whereas Poland, which has the largest population of 617,000 in the UK, ranks high in the table, with 573 prisoners imprisoned, it comes second to Romania, which saw 760 of its 126,000 population incarcerated.

Tables which covered prisoners jailed between October 2013 and March 2014, represented the most comprehensive breakdown of inmates’ countries of origin

It means Romanians are more than six times as likely as Poles to end up in jail, and eight times as likely as Britons.

The bulk of those jailed – 34,168 out of 39,773 – are Britons and only a tiny minority of foreign nationals fall foul of the law.

Overall, the most likely foreigners to be imprisoned were Vietnamese and Albanians – with more than one per cent of their respective populations in Britain (10,000 and 11,000) jailed in that time.