A US Coast Guard cutter on Monday unloaded a record haul of illegal drugs in Florida that, if it had made it to the streets, could yield 23 million deadly doses of cocaine, the service said.

MIAMI -- The U.S. Coast Guard seized more than 75,000 pounds (34,000 kilograms) of illegal drugs this summer from boats far out to sea in the Pacific and Caribbean, which the service called its largest-ever haul worth nearly half a billion dollars.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced its largest drug offload in history at Port Everglades in South Florida on Monday, totaling nearly $500 million of cocaine and marijuana.