Eight convicted drug smugglers, including a  man believed to be a Ghanaian Martin Anderson, have been executed by firing squad in Indonesia,

The executions took place in Besi prison on the island of Nusakambangan early on Wednesday morning local time, local media reports say.

Among those executed were Australian nationals Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Australia had appealed to Indonesia to delay the executions, citing alleged flaws in how their case was prosecuted.

Three Nigerians, a Brazilian, and Indonesian nationals were also among those believed to have been put to death.

Earlier, Tuesday, the convicts' families were allowed to see them for the last time.

Martin Anderson is a 51-year old born in the United Kingdom. Arrested in Jakarta in 2003, he was sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

A Filipina woman was also due to be executed but was reportedly spared at the last minute.

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was spared after the person who allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier surrendered to police, the Jakarta Post reports.

Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world and ended a four-year moratorium on executions in 2013.

Indonesia's Supreme Court last week, April 21, 2015 turned down final appeals from Martin Anderson and a French national Serge Areski Atlaoui.

According to a court panelist Suhadi, Anderson failed to present new evidence to support his appeal, and therefore exhausted all his appeals.

Meanwhile, the nationality of Martin Anderson has been cast in doubt. Though he has a Nigerian accent, Ghanaian authorities have been quiet over the man said to be holding a Ghanaian passport.