PORT EVERGLADES, Fla. — The U.S. Coast Guard cutter James on Thursday offloaded 54,500 pounds of cocaine and approximately 15,800 pounds of marijuana, worth a total of approximately $1.06 billion, that were seized at sea.

The illegal narcotics were part of 25 separate interdictions in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, five different Coast Guard cutters, a U.S. Navy combatant and a Dutch ship and a Coast Guard station in San Juan, according to Adm. Karl Schultz, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

It included simultaneous takedowns of two vessels 50 miles apart, and was the largest drug seizure for James to date, Capt. Todd Vance, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter said.

Announcement of the seizure came soon after news that overdose deaths in the United States surpassed 100,000 in one year.

The haul was cited as just one example of the partnerships that work to try to stop illegal drugs from entering the U.S.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) pointed out that most illegal drugs are produced overseas.

"The Coast Guard and U.S. government remove more cocaine at sea than anywhere else in the world," the Schultz said.

Coast Guard and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force officials emphasized, however, that the work takes an international partnership to try to stop the distribution of illicit drugs by international criminal networks.

The drug seizure on display involved 16 government agencies, multi-service partners and 21 liaison officers from 18 different countries. U.S. government agencies include the departments of State, Justice, Defense and Homeland Security as well as, law enforcement, elected officials and the U.S attorney’s office in the Middle District of Florida, they said.

The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force also has 19 strike forces. Three of them — in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tampa and San Diego, Calif., — focus on transnational efforts and use intelligence to help drive further interdiction, according to OCDETF Director Adam Cohen. The work involves about 1,500 federal agents and 4,000 local law enforcement agents working on 5,300 long-term investigations.

U.S. officials said the work is necessary to disrupt the flow of the distribution and sales of illegal narcotics and to try to keep the international cartels from destabilizing the Central American corridor, including U.S. borders.

Public health interventions and treatment also must be part of the process, Wasserman Schultz said.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Hodge of the U.S. Department of Justice said the cartels involved in trafficking the illegal narcotics also have links to human trafficking, weapons violations, political corruption and other illegal activities in the U.S. and other countries.

“(People ask) ‘Are you winning this war?’ “ Schultz said. “This is an ongoing body of work, and these are committed partners, and I think the risks of not pressing in and putting the assets into it pose great danger to our nation."