TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras said on Monday it had seized 900 kilos (1,984 pounds) of cocaine in a joint operation with Colombia.

Military and police authorities intercepted a fishing boat on Sunday in the eastern department of Gracias a Dios.

The cocaine was stashed in hidden compartments, the armed forces said. Three Honduran crew were arrested.

"In the space of a week (authorities) have seized 1,707 kilograms of drugs," said the criminal investigation agency in a statement.

On July 20 authorities found 800 kilograms of cocaine in a plane that landed on a hidden runway in the Gracias a Dios department.

In 2014, Honduras launched a concerted operation against drug smugglers in sparsely populated Gracias a Dios department, home to members of the Misquito indigenous minority.

Colombian authorities and the US Drug Enforcement Administration are working with Honduras to try to prevent drug smugglers from using Gracias a Dios as a launchpad to traffick cocaine from South America into the United States. — AFP