Story highlights

• Coast Guard says 14 tons of cocaine seized in 2016
• The drugs were taken in the eastern Pacific Ocean
• More than 6 tons came from a submarine like vessel
• Dozens of smugglers arrested in the operations

(CNN)The US. Coast Guard has handed 14 tons of seized cocaine over to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Almost half their haul came from the bust of a submarine-like vessel.

The drugs, stacked on pallets, were unloaded by cranes on Thursday to the deck of a Coast Guard cutter docked at San Diego's Broadway Pier before the DEA took custody of the narcotics.

The Coast Guard says the approximate 28,000 pounds of cocaine came from seizures off the coasts of Central and South America in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Dozens of smugglers were arrested.

The U.S. Coast Guard displays 14 tons of cocaine stacked on the deck of a Cutter in San Diego

The drugs, with an estimated street value of at least $400 million, were confiscated between late January and early March of 2016. Cutters Bertholf and Valiant were involved in the operations, along with the Navy's guided missile destroyer USS Lassen.

The Coast Guard says more 12 thousand pounds of cocaine, almost half the haul, was pulled from a so-called "self-propelled semi-submersible" on March 3rd.

Other drug seizures were made from "go fast" fishing vessels and approximately 1,500 pounds of cocaine wrapped in bales were found floating in the sea, according to the Coast Guard.