One Direction fans rushed to the boy band's defence after footage was published appearing to show two of them smoking cannabis.

The video, on the Mail Online website, appears to have been filmed by Louis Tomlinson during their tour in Peru and seems to show him sharing a joint with bandmate Zayn Malik.

Louis can be clearly heard saying: “So here we are, leaving Peru. Joint lit. Happy days!”

At one point smoke is seen being blown across the car.

A motorcycle police officer drives past and Louis says: “He's having a look. He's thinking 'I'm sure I can smell an illegal substance in there'. And he's hit the nail on the head.”

Louis and Zayn are also heard joking about “illegal substances” as they smoke in the back of a car.

The pair also discusses One Direction's last book, with Zayn describing it as “so girly and not cool”.

A spokesman for the band, who started the mainland UK leg of their Where We Are world tour in Sunderland yesterday, said: “This matter is in the hands of our lawyers.”

Thousands of fans took to Twitter to defend the band with one saying: “Zayn and Louis are both in their 20s. They are old enough to take care of themselves and do what they want.”

Another fan said: “Smoking weed doesn't make you a bad person but the media is gonna blow this up way out of proportion and I feel bad for Zayn and Louis.”