The father of missing Mid Sussex backpacker Luke Dance fears his son is being held hostage by drug gangs.

Michael Dance is flying out to look for his son tomorrow and has been told Luke is likely to still be in Bolivia.

Luke, 19, is known to have gone trekking in the Yonga area, notorious for growing coca from which cocaine can be made.

So far there is no record of him having travelled out of the country by land.

Mr Dance said: "There is good potential for a kidnapping, because that is where he would have been.

"I have been told it is an area where they grow drugs and the coca plantations were bombed by the Americans a few years ago to take out the drugs.

"Basically, any white travellers that go to that area are assumed to be American spies."

Mr Dance has received information from the Director of National Security in Peru that Luke has not left Bolivia and crossed into Peru.

He said: "We know he hasn't crossed out of Bolivia by land. They are now checking the airports."

Mr Dance flies out from Heathrow tomorrow morning.

He said: "It's unknown how long I will stay there. I will have to decide when I am out there and I am closer to what is going on."

Crawley MP Laura Moffatt has taken up Luke's case with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.

Relatives and friends are also hoping for a worldwide response to a website set up by his father, of Climping, Littlehampton.

The family hopes someone in the internet cafes Luke used during his travels will give them a clue soon.

Luke, a university student who lives with his mother and stepfather at Worth, Crawley, was last seen on August 29 when he left fellow backpackers in La Paz, Bolivia.

He was well prepared for the trip and had undergone extensive Army training.

Adventure-loving Luke is studying management science and has been accepted for training as a second lieutenant in the Army at Sandhurst in three years' time.