The UK is "entirely opposed" to the death sentences handed down by Egypt on five foreign nationals – including one Briton – convicted of drug trafficking and will work to prevent its implementation, the UK embassy in Cairo told Ahram Online on Monday.

"The British government is extremely concerned at the death sentence passed down on a British national by an Egyptian court on 3 June," a senior press officer at the UK embassy in Cairo said via email.

"Our consular team in Cairo are in contact with the British national involved and we will do our utmost to prevent this execution."

On Monday, five men – including one Briton, one Pakistani and three Seychelles nationals – were sentenced to death after Egypt's Grand Mufti, the country's highest religious authority, approved the sentences based on documents he received in April from Egypt's Red Sea Criminal Court.

The men were arrested in 2011 while attempting to smuggle three tonnes of cannabis into Egypt by sea close to Marsa Alam on Egypt's south-eastern coast.

A Pakistani sailor who avoided arrest was sentenced in absentia.

The court also ordered a fine of LE85 million to be imposed on the convicted men, who can appeal against the verdict.