Mexico City - The Mexican Navy said Tuesday it had seized two motorboats with a total of 7.5 tonnes of cocaine on board off Mexico's Pacific Coast.

The seizure, which was coordinated with US agents, took place Sunday, Navy officials said.

The boats were taken to the Navy base at Huatulco in Oaxaca state. Five people were arrested.

Mexico has become the scene of violent conflict between drug cartels as the transport of cocaine into the United States shifted from Colombia when US interdiction efforts shut down the lucrative Caribbean-Florida route in the 1990s.

The US consumes nearly half the world's cocaine.(dpa)