Three illegal immigrants are in custody after a three-county operation helped seize $42,000 worth of cocaine in Effingham and Bryan counties.

The Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) arrested 35-year-old Antonio Garcia, 30-year-old Justino Santana-Mantano, and 27-year-old Humberto Santana-Mantano, who are all illegally in the United States, according to a release from the CNT. 

Both Garcia and Humberto Santana-Mantano have been charged with Trafficking Cocaine, and Justino Santana-Mantano has been charged with Party to the Crime of Trafficking Cocaine.  All three are being held at the Chatham County Detention Center.

The men were taken in and more than a kilogram of cocaine was seized late Thursday, when CNT, along with the Effingham and Bryan county sheriff’s offices and the Drug Enforcement Administration, conducted two search warrants in Effingham and Bryan counties.

The operation is the result of a six-month CNT undercover investigation involving drug sales throughout Chatham, Bryan and Effingham counties.