ATLANTA — Two men have been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl and possessing firearms in connection with their drug crimes, authorities said.

Officials say Michael Dwayne Banks, 31, and Victor Valente-Reynoso, 27, an illegal alien from Mexico, were convicted of possessing illegal drugs with intent to distribute and possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.

According to federal prosecutors, Reynoso is accused of selling 536 fentanyl pills outside a Clayton County gas station on Aug. 23, 2022. Reynoso and co-conspirators later arranged to sell 5,000 fentanyl pills at a church parking lot in Fulton County. Law enforcement intercepted the deal, seizing 4,000 fentanyl pills, 1,000 fake Xanax pills, and arresting both men.

Authorities also searched Banks’s residence and recovered additional drugs, including fake Xanax, oxycodone, cocaine, marijuana, and several firearms, including a short-barrel machine gun.

“Our community is safer thanks to the agents and prosecutors who removed thousands of deadly fentanyl pills, nearly a half-dozen firearms, and two dangerous drug dealers from the streets,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “The significant punishment imposed on these pill-peddling poison pushers should serve as a warning to other criminals who threaten our public safety and welfare.”

“Fentanyl is one of the most lethal drugs our country has ever faced,” said Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. “When traffickers choose to deal this poison while carrying firearms, they amplify the threat to our neighborhoods and to law enforcement.”