Two Reuters journalists who have been detained in Myanmar for the past two weeks were remanded in custody for a further two weeks on Wednesday as a probe continues into allegations they breached the nation's Official Secrets Act.

Judge Ohn Myint granted the 14-day extension in the case of the journalists, Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, at the request of the police, who then took them to Yangon's Insein prison. They were previously being held in a police compound.

When they appeared at the Mingaladon court for the proceedings, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were allowed to meet their families and their lawyer for the first time since their arrest.

The two journalists had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in the western state of Rakhine, where - according to United Nations' estimates - about 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a fierce military crackdown on militants.