Brampton Man Gets 160 Months for $24M Gold Heist and Gun Smuggling Plot

A 27-year-old man from Brampton, Canada, has been sentenced to 160 months in prison for his role in two major crimes. Durante King-Mclean was involved in a plot to smuggle handguns into Canada and was also charged in connection with the largest gold heist in the country’s history. The gold heist occurred on 17 April 2023 at the Air Canada cargo terminal at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. Thieves stole gold bars and foreign currency worth a total of $24 million. King-Mclean was later charged by Canadian authorities while already in custody in Pennsylvania.

King-Mclean had been communicating with co-conspirators from April 2023 until his arrest. During this time, he stayed at an Airbnb in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, while planning the smuggling operation. He was later pulled over in Pennsylvania, where police found handguns hidden in socks in the trunk of his rental car. Among the weapons were two fully automatic handguns, 11 stolen firearms, and one with an obliterated serial number.

A court found him guilty of conspiring to smuggle 65 handguns into Canada. The sentence of 160 months reflects the seriousness of the offences. King-Mclean will serve his prison term for both the firearms conspiracy and his involvement in the gold heist. The case highlights the scale of the crimes, with stolen goods valued at $24 million and a large cache of illegal weapons.