The two men were stranded 50 miles off the coast of Western Australia on Monday after their 50-foot yacht Zero hit a remote reef.

The alleged smugglers, 34-year-old Graham Palmer and 51-year-old Antoine Dicenta, are accused of unloading the drugs onto a smaller boat and ferrying them to a nearby island.

Police claim they took refuge on the island and tried to hide the drugs – believed to be worth a billion Australian dollars (£550million) – by covering them up with seaweed.

But local fishermen alerted authorities to the stricken yacht, sparking a sea and air search that led to the two men being discovered late on Tuesday.

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