Two Malaysian men caught trying to smuggle a record haul of amphetamines into Australia were each sentenced to 14 years in jail on Monday.

Cock Leong Kwek and Sheak Sheng Khoo pleaded guilty to importing a prohibited substance when they appeared before the Queensland state supreme court on Monday.

Their sentences included a non-parole period of eight and a half years.

From yacht to truck

The men were arrested in July 2001 as they used a wheelbarrow to transfer bags of amphetamines to a truck from a yacht named Zen that was anchored north of Brisbane.

Police said the 413 kilograms (900 pounds) of drugs seized in the operation was the biggest haul of illegal amphetamines ever in Australia.

The drugs, in tablet and crystal form, had a street value of 127 million dollars (70 million US). — AFP