It was a brazen theft: thousands of gold bars and millions of dollars in bank notes stolen a year ago from Toronto’s international airport.
Canadian and US authorities said on Wednesday six people, including two Indian-origin men, have been arrested and three more are being sought in connection with what they called the largest gold heist in Canadian history – a cargo of over C$22 million ($16 million) in gold and currency.
The arrests were announced after a long-year investigation under Project 24K. The suspects, including two Air Canada employees, forged an airway bill to steal a cargo arriving from Switzerland of C$20 million-worth 6,600 gold bars weighing 400 kg and C$2.5 million in foreign currency, police officials said. The gold was melted down and used to purchase illegal firearms. “This story is a sensational one and which probably, we jokingly say, belongs in a Netflix series,” said Nishan Duraiappah, chief of Peel police, responsible for law enforcement at Toronto airport.
The gold theft appeared to be remarkably simple. The gold and cash arrived at the Toronto airport in a special container aboard an Air Canada flight from Switzerland on April 17, 2023, and it was moved to one of the airline’s warehouses. The container held gold bars that were destined for a Toronto-based bank and bank notes bound for a currency exchange. About two hours later, a truck driven by a man who was arrested in Pennsylvania pulled up at the warehouse. The man carried a waybill – a document usually issued by a carrier with details about a shipment – that gave him access to the warehouse. It was actually a duplicate of a waybill, printed on an Air Canada printer, for a shipment of seafood that had been picked up a day earlier. The container with the gold bars and bank notes was loaded into the truck. Video recordings showed the truck travelling down Canada’s busiest highway before eventually disappearing from sight in a rural area west of the city.
Peel police officers were called early the next morning after an armoured truck of Brinks, an American cash handling company, arrived with the actual waybill for the shipment of gold and bank notes. Canada police said Wednesday that they believe the gold bars, which had serial numbers, were all melted down and that they had seized smelting pots. The only gold recovered, police said, was six bracelets made out of C$89,000 worth of gold.
Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu, 54, from Brampton, Ontario, jewellery store owner Ali Raza, 37, from Toronto, Amit Jalota, 40, an Oakville, Ontario resident, Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, Ontario and Prasath Paramalingam, 35, from Brampton are among those that have been arrested. According to a PTI report, Sidhu and Jalota are of Indian origin. Police are searching for former Air Canada manager Simran Preet Panesar, 31, from Brampton as well as Archit Grover, 36, from Brampton and Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, from Ontario.
Peel detective sergeant Mike Mavity said the truck driver that allegedly picked up the gold, Durante King-Mclean, a 25-year-old from Brampton, is currently in custody in the US. Sixty-five illegal firearms were found in his possession, two of which had been modified to have fully automatic capabilities.They were allegedly destined to be smuggled into Canada. “This is a story about reverse alchemy,” said Nando Iannicca, chair of Peel Police Services Board. “This is about how gold becomes guns.”