Tony Gauci, 48, and 37-year-old Emanuel Seychell, were immediately released from the Piano del Gesù prison in Modica after their defence lawyer, Giovanni Giuca, filed the request on their behalf.

Under Italian law, the prosecution and the defence can agree on a sentence if a guilty plea is registered by the accused. Gauci and Seychell were charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration into Italy.

The date for handing down the sentence by the court as agreed by the prosecution and the defence will be set in the next few days.

Magistrate Maurizio Gurrieri presided over the Modica court.

On Monday, Gauci and Seychell told the court that they had ferried the Chinese without actually knowing that they were not carrying any visas or passports.

They claimed that they did not ask for any payment from the Chinese, but could not account for the E1,000 and Lm2,000 in cash the carabinieri (military police) found on the yacht allegedly used to make the trip from Malta to Pozzallo.

The carabinieri suspect that this was the money the illegal immigrants paid to make the journey on board the Adelina.

On Friday, the illegal immigrants were spotted next to the yacht in the port area of Pozzallo by the port authorities, who alerted the carabinieri on patrol at the time.

Catching sight of the carabinieri, one of the illegal immigrants tried to escape, but was caught immediately. The illegal immigrants and the two Maltese men were taken to the police station and the yacht was seized on a warrant issued by the Modica court.

The carabinieri discovered that the four illegal immigrants had been ferried to Pozzallo from Malta on a yacht piloted by the two Maltese men who had each been paid a considerable sum of money.

Later, speaking through an interpreter, one of the illegal immigrants confirmed having paid a considerable sum of Maltese liri for the trip to Sicily.

One of the illegal immigrants did not have a passport while the other three had passports but did not possess a visa.