Alleged driver in $20M Toronto gold heist negotiating U.S. plea deal

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The alleged driver in the notorious Toronto airport gold heist is negotiating a plea deal in the United States, where he is charged with trying to smuggle a car stuffed with guns into Canada.

Durante King-Mclean, 25, of Brampton, Ont., is accused in Canada of being the driver who pulled a white truck into an Air Canada cargo loading bay at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport last year and used an old Air Canada waybill to fraudulently pick up a shipping container within hours of it arriving on a flight from Switzerland.

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Inside the container was 6,600 variously sized bars of almost pure gold, weighing 400.19 kilograms, worth about $20 million at the time, along with foreign currency worth about $2.5 million.

When the driver took off with the loot on April 17, 2023, it triggered an intense hunt for the perpetrators of the embarrassingly easy Toronto airport gold heist, considered the largest gold robbery in Canada and the world’s sixth largest in modern history.

Police say some of the proceeds from the stolen gold were used to buy black-market guns in the United States to smuggle into Canada, leading the chair of the Peel Police Services Board, Nando Iannicca, to say the case was about “reverse alchemy … how gold becomes guns.”

A U.S. indictment filed in Pennsylvania alleges that King-Mclean travelled to Florida after the heist, where he stayed at an Airbnb in Fort Lauderdale and allegedly bought firearms.

On Sept. 2, 2023, King-Mclean was stopped in a Nissan Sentra for suspected motor-vehicle violations. A search of the car found 65 guns, the indictment alleges. Two were fully automatic, 11 had been stolen, and one had an obliterated serial number, U.S. court documents allege.

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King-Mclean is facing six charges: Conspiracy to traffic firearms; being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm; attempt to unlawfully export firearms; illegal possession of a machine gun; possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number; and possession of a stolen firearm.

King-Mclean entered a plea of not guilty to all counts in May and was originally ordered to face a trial starting July 1 in Harrisburg, Penn.

His lawyer, Jessica Bush, however, requested a postponement of his trial because she and the U.S. Attorney’s office “are undergoing plea negotiations,” according to a motion filed in court by Bush on June 7.

She requested another 60 days to allow sufficient time, and to consult with her client to determine whether pre-trial motions are appropriate, and if so, to prepare those motions.

The lawyer for a co-defendant, Jalisa Edwards, of Fort Lauderdale, who is currently in U.S. custody, agreed to the delay. She has also pleaded not guilty, but the documents do not say whether she is also negotiating a plea agreement.

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Prosecutor William Behe did not oppose the delay. The request was granted by U.S. District Judge Jennifer Wilson who set a new trial date of Sept. 9.

“The court specifically finds that… the ends of justice served by granting a continuance in this matter outweigh the interests of the public and defendant in a speedy trial. It has been represented to the court that additional time is required for plea negotiations,” her decision says.

Bush told National Post that King-Mclean’s trial will likely face additional delays.

“He had his initial appearance in May and is currently scheduled for trial in September. However, the federal system can move slowly and the September trial date will most likely be continued,” she said.

It is not known what impact a guilty plea in the U.S. case could have on the Canadian gold heist case. There is overlap of three men, including King-Mclean, who are all charged in both Canada and the United States, and investigators of both the gun plot and the gold heist worked together.

King-Mclean is wanted in Canada for the gold heist but is in custody in the United States, while Prasath Paramalingam, 35, and Archit Grover, 36, both from Brampton, are wanted in the United States for the gun-running plot but have been arrested in Canada for the airport gold heist.

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King-Mclean was ordered to remain in jail in the United States because he is charged with crimes involving possession of a firearm, poses a serious risk of fleeing the U.S. before trial, and is considered a danger.

“No condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of defendant as required,” Behe told court.

Edwards, who is charged as an accessory after the fact for alleged assistance to conceal evidence, was released on a $50,000 bond. One of her release conditions is to have no contact with her co-defendants.

Two men are still considered fugitives in the airport gold heist case after the arrest of five men in Canada and one man in the United States.

Simran Preet Panesar, a 31-year-old Brampton man, was an Air Canada manager at the time of the heist — and gave the Peel police investigators of the gold heist a tour of the crime scene at the Air Canada cargo warehouse as part of his duties. He resigned shortly after. Panesar is wanted for theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, from Mississauga, is wanted for theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime and conspiracy to commit and indictable offence.

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Both men are believed to have left Canada.

Last week, CBC reported that Panesar’s lawyer said Panesar was preparing to voluntarily return to Canada to surrender to police and defend against the charges. The lawyer did not respond to requests for comment on his client’s status prior to deadline.

Police have recovered only about $90,000 worth of that gold, that had been melted and fashioned into crude bracelets in a local jewelry store, police said. Investigators also found $430,000 in Canadian currency, believed to be some of the profit from the sale of the gold.

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