Brampton man gets 13-year U.S. sentence for cross-border gun trafficking

A Brampton resident linked to the Pearson Airport gold robbery received 160 months in federal prison after admitting to a conspiracy that moved dozens of firearms from the United States into Canada.

Brampton man gets 13-year U.S. sentence for cross-border gun trafficking

A 23-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, who authorities connected to the high-profile gold theft at Toronto's main airport, has been handed a lengthy prison term south of the border.

Durante King-Mclean was sentenced to 160 months — over 13 years — in an American federal penitentiary after pleading guilty to plotting with associates to move illegal weapons across the Canada-U.S. frontier. The hearing took place in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, according to reporting by the Toronto Sun.

King-Mclean gained notoriety as the alleged wheelman in the April 2023 heist at Pearson, where bandits escaped with approximately $20 million in bullion and cash from an Air Canada freight depot. Those accusations have yet to be tested in a Canadian courtroom.

His American downfall came in September 2023, when highway patrol officers pulled over a vehicle he was operating. The young man bolted on foot but was soon captured. A search of the automobile turned up 65 pistols stuffed inside footwear. Two were semi-automatic models, and nearly a dozen had been reported as stolen property.

Law enforcement in Peel Region suspect the arsenal was financed with money from the airport robbery. After the gold job, King-Mclean reportedly hid in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before heading north on a route notorious for funneling illegal firearms from the American South toward the Northeast and across into Ontario.

The affair underscores the persistent problem of transnational arms smuggling and its links to large-scale criminal enterprises operating in the Toronto region.

Source: Toronto Sun Crime