Two Georgia men were arrested last week after they were caught allegedly trafficking cocaine in a Hazard shopping center parking lot.

An undercover investigation led police to Jose M. Escobar Canoles, 29, of Pinehurst Drive, Smyrna, Georgia, and 51-year-old Arnie J. Lewis, of South Highway 27, Carrollton, Georgia. They were arrested on June 17 during an undercover drug transaction in which they allegedly sold approximately 12 ounces of cocaine.

The investigation involved several different law enforcement agencies and UNITE detectives, officers from the Hazard Police Department, Perry County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police K-9 unit took part in the arrest, which came a day after police arrested a Perry County man on trafficking charges for allegedly selling cocaine out of his motel room. That case was bound over to the Perry County Grand Jury while the case against Lewis and Canoles, an undocumented alien, is expected to be presented to a federal grand jury.

A loaded handgun and $1,000 in counterfeit $100 bills were also found in the two men’s 2007 Chrysler 300-C, police said. The handgun was found in the front of the car on the floor board.

Lewis and Canoles were each charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

They are currently being lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail.