2 men arrested in East Boston, charged with trafficking $90,000 worth of fentanyl

Two New York-area men were arrested Friday in East Boston after an undercover operation siezed 2 kilograms of fentanyl with an estimated wholesale street value of $90,000, the Suffolk district attorney’s office said.

Sergio Singer Galicia, 39, and Bryan Roberto Rodriguez, 38, were each charged with one count of trafficking in fentanyl of 200 grams or more, the district attorney’s office said in a statement. They will be arraigned Monday in the East Boston division of Boston Municipal Court.

It was not immediately clear Friday whether Galicia and Rodriguez had hired attorneys.

After a weeks-long undercover operation by State Police, Boston police, and federal Homeland Security officers to purchase the drugs, Galicia and Rodriguez were arrested during a deal at 945 Saratoga St. on Friday morning, the statement said.

Fentanyl was the primary factor of the 8.8 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths in Massachusetts last year, leading to an all-time high of 2,290 deaths, according to state public health officials.

“This quantity of fentanyl hitting the streets would have undoubtedly contributed to the unprecedented number of overdoses and deaths we’re seeing across the state,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in the statement. “This was a careful, efficient operation that interdicted a significant quantity of one of the deadliest drugs in our society.”