The St Lucia police Monday said they had detained six persons whom they believed had been involved in the ambush and rape of two British women while on an isolated beach on the island's north east coast.
Police said that the women, whose names were not given and in their early 30s, were on an environmental expedition which entailed camping at the location.
"We are pleased with speed at which the officers were able to apprehend the suspects in this case, and we are very thankful to members of the public who might have provided information leading to their arrests," Police Commissioner Vernon Francois said.
The men are due to appear in court later this week.
The incident is also being investigated by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture who explained that officers from the department would normally accompany students undertaking such assignments in these isolated locations.
British High Commissioner Karl Burrows described the attack on two women as a "dreadful crime" but has endorsed the island as a "friendly and welcoming country".
Burrows has advised British nationals visiting the island to exercise caution, as they would anywhere else, and pointed out that crime against UK tourists was not widespread.
"To put it into context, we have about 75,000 British to St Lucia each year and the vast majority of visits are incidents free," the high commissioner said.
"Our advice to British nationals is that common sense rules apply. There is crime as there is everywhere, but St Lucia is a friendly and welcoming country. Overall crime rates are low but common sense rules do apply. We advise against being in isolated areas after dark."
The British high commissioner expressed disappointment that news of the attack reached his office via the media and not through official channels.
"That's not the way things work and we are disappointed we were not contacted directly by the police, but hopefully we will be able to put procedures in place in order to remind the St. Lucia police of what sort of procedures should be followed," he told a local newspaper.

Sean Devalda, now 25, of Cheetham Hill, admitted conspiracy to rob and carrying a firearm with intent to commit an offence at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday.

He was part of a gang planning to rob a Group 4 cash-in-transit van in 2007.

He was arrested during a police raid on a house in Amsterdam.

Devalda was then extradited from the Netherlands under a European arrest warrant in February.

The robbery was abandoned when the group realised police were following them, a police spokesman said.

Officers discovered a balaclava, a pistol and seven rounds of ammunition dumped in a bin by the gang.

Two men were arrested but Devalda and another man fled.


Dutch police raided the house in Amsterdam
His three accomplices were jailed for conspiracy to rob and possession of a firearm at Leeds Crown Court in March 2008, police said.

Amsterdam Police worked with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) to arrest him four years later.

The operation involved a team of armed officers, a helicopter and police divers.

A firearm, £50,000 in cash and a number of expensive watches were recovered during the raid.

Det Insp Aaron Duggan, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "This case proved we will stop at nothing to bring criminals to justice."

Ch Supt Kevin Mulligan, of the Salford division, added: "We have been working hard to tackle organised crime in the city and make it a safer place for local residents.

"I hope the Salford community will be reassured that we are leaving no stone unturned in our continued efforts to track down fugitives on the run."

A wealthy gold dealer confessed he masterminded the murder of his estranged wife to a prison cellmate, a court heard.

Businessman James Fayed also allegedly plotted from behind bars to kill one of the men he is accused of paying to carry out the hit.

Prosecutors claim Fayed arranged the 2008 killing of his wife, Pamela, because he was embroiled in a costly divorce battle and feared she would give evidence against him in a federal probe into their international gold trading business.

Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney Eric Harmon said the case amounted to a love story, but one that involved 'boy meets gold' rather than 'boy meets girl.'

'It's that greed, that love of gold, that caused this man to have his wife murdered for financial gain,' he added.

Jurors at Los Angeles Superior Court heard excerpts of a tape secretly recorded by the inmate in which Fayed, 48, talked about his 'money-grabbing' wife.

'If she'd just kept her mouth shut,' he said.

Mr Harmon said the jailed businessman complained to the inmate that the hitmen passed up several better opportunities to kill his wife before choosing a crowded parking garage.


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Mrs Fayed, 44, was attacked on July 28, 2008, on the third floor of a Los Angeles garage as she walked to her car after a meeting earlier that afternoon with her husband and their lawyers.

She was seeking $66,000 per month in support and attorney fees and was battling with her husband for control of their precious-metals business.


In court: Businessman Mr Fayed also allegedly plotted from behind bars to kill one of the men he is accused of paying to carry out the hit on his wife

She also demanded nearly $1million from Fayed, alleging that he had failed to give her access to the company's books.

The couple were supposed to be back in court the day after the murder. Mrs Fayed was getting into her car when she was stabbed 13 times by a hooded attacker.

The man fled in a red Suzuki truck that had been rented by the Fayeds' business, Goldfinger Inc., said prosecutors.

Police later found the victim's blood inside the SUV, even though it had been cleaned after the killing.

According to Mr Harmon, Fayed also discussed paying the cellmate to arrange the killings of the men he had used to carry out the attack on his wife.

Fayed could face the death penalty if he is convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Defence lawyer Mark Werksman claimed his client's cellmate, Shawn Smith, was a habitual liar who tried to trick Fayed into plotting the murder of at least one of the men who allegedly carried out his wife's killing.

'He's an innocent man wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit,' said Mr Werksman.

Prosecutors allege that Fayed paid Jose Moya, an employee at his Moorpark ranch, $25,000 to carry out the murder-for-hire.

Mr Harmon said Moya, a gang member, hired another gang member, Gabriel Marquez, to help - then Marquez, in turn, hired Steven Simmons, a member of the same gang, to stab Pamela Fayed.

The three are expected to be tried separately and have pleaded not guilty.

The Mexican Navy has said it has captured a suspected leader of the Zetas drug gang allegedly behind the mass killings of more than 100 people in northeastern Mexico.

Martin Omaar Estrada Luna, said to be the local leader of the gang, was captured on Saturday. He is accused of masterminding the murders of 145 people in Tamaulipas state near the US border.

Their remains were discovered in a mass grave earlier this month.

A navy statement said Estrada Luna, alias "El Kilo", is also the main suspect in the massacre of 72 central and south American migrants last August, also in the same township of San Fernando in Tamaulipas.

He was one of six people arrested in a navy operation on Saturday, the statement added.

A series of bus hijackings alerted authorities to the killings. Since April 1, officials have found about 20 mass graves in San Fernando alone.

The Zetas, a notorious gang formed in the 1990s by ex-military commandos, is now engaged in a fight to death with its former bosses.

Seven major drug gangs are operating in Mexico, and over 34,000 people have been killed since December 2006 in the raging wars for control over smuggling routes and government efforts to crack down on illegal activities.