More than 24 tons of illegal narcotics worth about $510 million was seized by the US Coast Guard earlier this year, the maritime law enforcement agency said in a statement last Wednesday.

The crew of US Coast Guard Cutter James offloaded more than 44,550 pounds of cocaine and 3,880 pounds of marijuana in Port Everglades, Florida, on April 9, an operation that culminated as the Trump administration focused more military assets on stemming the flow of drugs and migrants across the US's southern border.

Photos of the drug busts showed Coast Guard officers boarding suspected drug smuggling vessels, including a narco-sub, to arrest suspects and seize the illegal narcotics on board.