Two people suspected of using a hearse to smuggle drugs have been arrested in Brazil.

Police in Brasilia said the two - a man and a woman - were discovered unloading 88 kilograms of marijuana from a secret compartment located under the coffin in the vehicle.

"That is a significant amount of weed, but what makes it unusual is, of course, the coffin, which also had traces of the drug," police spokesman Casemiro da Silva told the Reuters news agency.

There was no corpse in the coffin, according to the Jornal do Brasil's website.

The couple are believed to have been operating a bogus funerary service for several months as a front for smuggling drugs from the border town of Foz do Iguacu to the capital, Brasilia, 2000 kilometres away.

Officials say the ruse had provided the perfect cover, as hearses are rarely stopped and searched at police roadblocks.

If convicted the two alleged traffickers face between three and 15 years in jail.

Foz do Iguacu lies on the border shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay and correspondents say it is a route much used by drug smugglers.