Two brothers from west Wales, who have spent nearly three years in jail in Portugal for drug smuggling, have lost an appeal to prevent judges from their original trial sitting at their retrial.

The brothers were arrested in the Port of Faro

Graham and Andrew Stow, from Milford Haven, were arrested in 1999 after cannabis worth �3m was found under their boat in the port of Faro.

In October 2001 an appeal court quashed their 12-year sentences and ordered they should be re-tried on drug smuggling charges.

But, two out of the three judges who sat at the trial which found them guilty in July 2001 will now sit at their retrial.

Andrew, 36, and Graham, 41, were facing 12 years in jail on Madeira after being convicted of smuggling 1.2 tonnes of cannabis into Faro in July 1999.

The brothers had set off from Wales in their fishing boat with the dream of setting up a diving school in Portugal.

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

Questions raised

Officers 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 �vora.

Their solicitor Adrian Jenkins said questions had been raised about the legality of the original trial because, he claimed, crucial evidence had been withheld by the judge.

He also claimed proceedings of the trial had not been recorded.

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.

No date has been set for the retrial.