FRANKLIN—Two Virginia Beach men are behind bars and police are searching for a third suspect following an alleged murder-for-hire plot involving gangs, narcotics trafficking and interstate firearms smuggling, Franklin police said Friday.

Purported gang members Luis Manuel Nunez, 28, and David Olonzo-Marcus Powell, 23, were arrested after allegedly threatening to kill two Franklin women.

According to police, the unidentified women in their 20s, who live in the 300 block of North College Drive, returned to their apartment in the Meadowridge complex early Wednesday morning and were accosted by three armed intruders.

“The suspects held the females over the course of the night threatening to kill them,” Franklin police Lt. Tim Whitt wrote in a news release.

Whitt declined to say why the women were targeted.

Two of the assailants left in the morning, leaving one man behind, and one of the women was able to notify police early Wednesday afternoon.

Police detectives responded to the residence and arrested Nunez without incident. Police then searched the apartment and seized a .380-caliber pistol. The murder-for-hire threat was verified as credible against not only the two women in the apartment but their families as well.

“Investigators took steps to secure the safety of the two females as well as contacting local law enforcement authorities in the jurisdictions where the families live to help assure their safety,” Whitt wrote.

Powell and Nunez, according to police, are known gang members associated with the Latin Kings and the Nine-Trey Gangster Bloods.

Both were charged with robbery, burglary, two counts of murder-for-hire and two counts of abduction. Nunez also faces a charge of possession of a firearm by a violent felon and four counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Powell faces one charge of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Powell was arrested on Thursday.

Authorities are still working to identify the third suspect. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call Franklin Crime Solvers at 757-562-8599. Information leading to an arrest can earn the caller a cash reward while remaining anonymous.

The Virginia Beach Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security assisted Franklin authorities due to gang involvement and the nature of the investigation, according to Whitt.