Three Mexican nationals were busted aboard a boat in the Caribbean Sea for allegedly trying to smuggle three tons of cocaine in the US, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

The three alleged traffickers — Raymundo Montoya-Lopez, 45, Abraham Alfonso Garcia-Montoya, 31, and 39-year-old Felizardo Diaz-Hernandez — were captured by the Mexican Navy on Sept. 1 off the coast of Quintana Roo, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.

Aboard the suspects’ vessel, the Mexican Navy along with the DEA New York Strike Force and the DEA Mexico office, found about 2,960 kilograms of cocaine, authorities said.

The three men were charged in the Southern District of New York with conspiring to import cocaine in the US. If convicted, they could face up to life in prison.