The FBI has arrested 46 former and current Georgia Department Of Corrections officers in a two year drug trafficking sting that spanned throughout nine facilities in Georgia.

Five of those officers arrested were members of the COBRA unit, an elite group of corrections officers in GA DOC whose specialty is breaking up correctional facility-run drug rings.

The federal investigation found that guards and other corrections staff were smuggling contraband such as liquor, tobacco and cell phones into the cell blocks for money. Inmates used the illegal cell phones to commit crimes such as  wire fraud, money laundering and identify theft.

The 46 officers along with two civilians and one inmate that were facing charges were expected to go in front of a federal magistrate in groups on Thursday. They were then expected to be turned back over to the custody of the Federal Marshals at undisclosed locations in Georgia, while they await trial.