A 29-year-old man from Canada pleaded guilty on Wednesday to transporting 67 illegal guns in a rented truck traveling east on Interstate 94 in Minnesota earlier this year.
Dayne Adrian Sitladeen had entered the United States unlawfully when a Minnesota State Patrol trooper stopped the truck in which Sitladeen was a passenger near Fergus Falls on Jan. 10 for speeding upward of 100 mph, he told U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, appearing via video from Sherburne County jail.
The trooper searched the truck after smelling marijuana and the two men gave him fake IDs; the trooper then found a bag inside filled with guns, according to an affidavit by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives underlying the charges.
At the time, Sitladeen was wanted on a 2019 Canadian arrest warrant for first-degree homicide, fentanyl distribution and possession of proceeds of crime, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota. The driver, Muzamil Aden Addow, had outstanding felony arrest warrants in Canada for firearms offenses and kidnapping.
Sitladeen pleaded guilty to one count of firearm possession by aliens illegally in the United States, acknowledging that the two were transporting the 67 firearms, most of which were handguns, that night.
Addow is scheduled for a plea appearance next month.
Andy Mannix
