DOVER — Two residents suspected of illegally importing and then distributing prescription drugs were arrested this week following a three-month joint investigation by local, county, state and federal authorities, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office said in a press release today.

Gildardo Duarte-Nova, 31, and Maria Guerra, 34, both of a North Essex Street address in town, were both charged with multiple second- and third-degree narcotics charges, including possession and distribution counts.

Detectives seized 2,600 pills and more than $11,000 in cash, the release said. The pills have a street value of more $100,000.

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration placed detainers on Duarte-Nova and Guerra, both of whom were determined to be in the country illegally, the prosecutor’s office said.

The joint investigation was undertaken by the prosecutor’s office’s intelligence crime task force and its special enforcement unit, Boonton Township police, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and ICE.