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PHOENIX (AP) - Two people accused of participating in a gun smuggling ring are expected to change their pleas in the federal government's botched investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.

Jose Angel Polanco and Dejan Hercegovac are scheduled to change their pleas Monday in Phoenix.

Authorities say the two were members of a ring that smuggled guns into Mexico for use by a drug cartel.

Two rifles bought by another ring member were found in the aftermath of a 2010 shootout that mortally wounded a Border Patrol agent in southern Arizona.

The man who bought the two guns has pleaded guilty to gun charges.

Authorities have faced criticism for allowing suspected straw gun buyers to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than arrest the suspects and seize the guns there.