Authorities in New York City say they seized more than 135 pounds of cocaine that had been taken from Massachusetts to the Bronx, a “massive load’’ estimated to be worth as much as $3 million.

Investigators arrested Mark A. Soto, 23, and Xavier T. Herbert-Gumbs, 24, both of Puerto Rico, last Thursday evening after two separate vehicle searches in the space of an hour, according to the New York Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office.

New York police and agents with a border security task force run by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations had identified the men as “members of a major narcotics trafficking network,’’ prosecutors said.

Soto allegedly had a 26-pound box of cocaine in a rented Hyundai with Massachusetts plates, and prosecutors said all of the seized drugs came from the state — though they have provided few details about the connection to this area.

Police and federal agents seized the bulk of the cocaine in a traffic stop around 6:15 p.m., when investigators stopped a Chevy Tahoe in which Herbert-Gumbs was a passenger. There was a box in the back seat of the vehicle containing 110 pounds of cocaine, authorities said.

The drugs were pressed into “brick-shaped packages marked with brand names,’’ according to prosecutors.

At about 7:10 p.m., agents and detectives allegedly saw Soto getting out of the rented Hyundai. In the trunk, investigators saw “a partially opened box that appeared to contain multiple kilograms of cocaine,’’ prosecutors said.

Both traffic stops were made in the Bronx.

Andy Rosen can be reached at andrew.rosen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andyrosen.