As part of an undercover operation, federal agents bought 15 guns, 58 devices used to convert conventional firearms into machine guns and 57 grams of cocaine from three alleged Sureños gang members in Salem and Portland over the last five months, prosecutors said.

Cesar Daniel Arevalo, 36, Jose Luis Diaz-Ceballos, 24, and 35-year-old Jose Luis Brown-Ceballos were arrested this week and made their first appearances in federal court in Portland Monday afternoon.

The Sureños are loosely-affiliated street gangs with roots in southern California.

Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made the undercover gun buys from the accused between July and November, according to a federal affidavit unsealed Monday.

On July 16, Arevalo proposed to meet one of the unde

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