Heist - stockwatch NP says Air Canada gold heist suspect seeks plea deal
2024-06-20 08:48 ET - In the News
The National Post reports in its Thursday edition that the suspected driver in a Toronto airport gold heist is currently in negotiations for a plea deal in the United States, where he faces charges for attempting to smuggle a car filled with guns into Canada. The Post's Adrian Humphreys writes that Durante King-McLean, a 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., is accused in Canada of being the driver who drove a white truck into an Air Canada cargo loading bay at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. He used an old Air Canada waybill to fraudulently pick up a shipping container shortly after it arrived from Switzerland. The container held 6,600 bars of almost pure gold, weighing 400.19 kilograms and valued at about $20-million, along with $2.5-million in foreign currency. The theft on April 17, 2023, led to a widespread search for the culprits involved in the embarrassingly simple Toronto airport gold heist. Police say some of the stolen gold proceeds were used to buy illegal guns in the United States, which were then smuggled into Canada. An indictment filed in Pennsylvania alleges that Mr. King-McLean travelled to Florida after the heist, where he stayed at an Airbnb in Fort Lauderdale and purportedly purchased firearms.