Tegucigalpa, Jul 30 (IANS/EFE): Honduran authorities and the US Coast Guard found 2.5 tonnes of cocaine aboard a small submarine that was scuttled by its crew off the Central American country's Caribbean coast.

The submarine was apparently designed to carry as much as five tonnes of drugs and the search of the wreckage will continue, Honduran armed forces chief Rene Osorio told reporters in Tegucigalpa.

Washington plans to request that both the cocaine and the four crew members in custody be turned over to the US, Osorio said.

The suspects were apprehended July 13 after scuttling the submarine and fleeing in a dinghy as units of the Honduran navy and US Coast Guard closed in on the vessel.

It was not until this week, however, that Coast Guard divers located the submarine on the sea floor at a spot some 16 nautical miles off the coast of Cruta.

Authorities suspect the submarine's journey began in Colombia, one of the world's leading producers of cocaine.