Ten packages containing illegal abortion pills were intercepted in the post last year.

This compares to four packages seized by Customs and Excise the previous year and none in any of the previous years since 2011. One package has been seized so far this year.

The figures were released by Treasury in response to a Freedom of Information request.

All packages intercepted contained only sufficient dosage for a single treatment.

All the pills have come from India but there is no record of the supplier. Latest statistics show 88 women went from the island to England or Wales for terminations in 2016, 17 fewer than 2015 and the lowest figures in 15 years.

Anti-abortion campaigners have welcomed the news.

But the Campaign for Abortion Law Modernisation believes it just shows more women are buying illegal abortion tablets online for a DIY termination, risking prosecution and, because they are outlawed in the Isle of Man, with no medical care or counselling.

CALM posted on Facebook: ’Women in the Isle of Man should not have to resort to buying abortion pills off the internet.’