A man has been charged with animal cruelty after a dead dog was found weighed down with a cement block underwater in Sydney’s south on the weekend.

Around midday on Saturday police were called to Yowie Bay after the dog was found by swimmers.

Police Divers retrieved the two-year-old Belgian Malinois and took it to a vet for an autopsy.

Police then searched a property at Miranda, in Sydney’s south, on Monday and seized more than 117 grams of cannabis and other items.

A 49-year-old man has been charged with torturing, beating and causing the death of an animal, committing an act of aggravated cruelty on an animal and possessing a prohibited drug.

He was refused bail and will appear at Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday.