Brothers must wait for retrial verdict

The brothers allegedly smuggled drugs to Faro

Two brothers from the UK who have been retried in Portugal for alleged drugs smuggling must stay in prison for two weeks to learn the outcome of the new hearing.

Graham and Andrew Stow, from Milford Haven, have spent almost three years in jail following their arrest in 1999 after cannabis worth £3m was found under their diving boat in the port of Faro.

Andrew Stow denied smuggling drugs

Their lawyer has already told them that they can expect the same guilty verdict as their original trial one year ago, when they were sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.

Andrew, 37, and Graham, 43, have consistently denied the charges, and are expected to appeal if the retrial - conducted in one day in Portuguese and without a translator - does go against them.

They Stows had earlier lost an appeal against a decision to allow two of the three judges from their original trial to sit at the new hearing.

Their lawyer said he had been disturbed that two of the original three judges handled the retrial despite his strong objections that they could not be impartial.

Only two defence witnesses were called, a Portuguese shipping agent, and the father of the brothers, Dilwyn Stow.

Graham Stow was found guilty in Portugal

Because notice of the retrial was so short, two potential witnesses from Milford Haven were unable to attend Thursday's retrial.

They were Tim Gardener, of the Harbour Master's office, and Ivor Jones, who runs a diving school.

The only surprise at the hearing was a softening by the prosecution of their original allegations that the brothers brought the cannabis into Faro harbour by boat, whether on board or dragged in by net beneath or behind the vessel.

The contention remained, however, that the brothers knowingly brought drugs up from the harbour bed with the intention of selling them, so the accusation of trafficking remained on the charge sheet.

The brothers were held after they had set off from Wales in their 22-metre long diving boat with the dream of setting up a diving school in Portugal.

The brothers' father, Dilwyn, gave evidence at the retrial

They had stopped at the Canary Islands off the Portuguese coast before docking at the port of Faro.

The Portuguese authorities claimed the brothers brought the drugs into the port by dragging them across the seabed behind their boat.

But the pair protested their innocence throughout and won a chance at a new trial from the Portuguese Court of Appeal in Évora.

Dyfed-Powys Police have co-operated by drafting a letter which shows that neither brother had a criminal record or was known to the police.

The maximum sentence in Portugal for drug trafficking is 20 years.