Mexico City - The US Coast Guard and Mexican Navy seized seven tonnes of cocaine on the high seas off Mexico's Pacific Coast, officials said Sunday.

Investigators found the drugs in a fishing trawler near the coast off the southern Mexican province of Oaxaca. The five-man Mexican crew was arrested.

Mexican drug cartels use the ocean to transport Colombian cocaine to North America. In the past year, the Mexican Navy discovered a mini submarine that was carrying six tonnes of cocaine. dpa