Police said nine people are facing charges in what authorities are calling the biggest ever gold theft in Canadian history.
6,600 gold bars worth more than 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.5 million), and more than 2 million Canadian dollars ($1.8 million) in foreign currencies were stolen from a cargo facility at Toronto’s Pearson international airport on Apr 17, 2023.
On Wednesday, Peel regional police along with the members of the US Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced developments linked to a “vast and complex” investigation that spanned the two countries. Investigators have arrested six people – five in Canada and one in the US – laid 19 charges and issued three Canada-wide warrants.
The stolen shipment of Gold and Cash was en route to an undisclosed refinery in Switzerland.
The cargo arrived for a layover on board an Air Canada flight at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on April 17, 2023, at 3:56 p.m. EDT. At approximately 7:00 p.m. EDT, one of the suspects arrived in a 5 metric ton truck at a secure cargo warehouse in possession of an Air Canada-printed airway bill which was for a seafood shipment that was picked up the day before.
When Brink’s security van arrived at the airport to pick up the shipment, it was found to be missing. The police were contacted in the early hours of the morning on April 18, 2023, and an investigation dubbed Project 24K ensued.
Police say the gold, which had recently arrived from Zurich, was later melted down and allegedly used to fund the purchase of firearms intended for sale in Canada as part of a trafficking ring. Smelting pots, casts and moulds were seized as part of the investigation.
Among those who have been arrested are: Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu, 54, from Brampton, Ontario; jewelry 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.
The truck driver who allegedly picked up the gold, King-Mclean, a 25-year-old from Brampton, is in custody in the U.S. on firearms and trafficking related charges.
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 Mississauga Ontario.
Peel Regional Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said only 90,000 Canadian dollars ($65,000) of the more than 20 million Canadian dollars has been recovered.
Air Canada and Brink’s are still locked in a bitter lawsuit over the theft.
In late 2023 Brink’s, the armoured car company, alleges Air Canada in a lawsuit that because of this lax security, thieves were able to leave with a haul of gold weighing 400kg and stacks of cash weighing more than 50kg from an Air Canada warehouse. Air Canada alleges Brink’s shipped the gold and cash from Zurich to Toronto without declaring its value, failing to add any insurance and declining to pay extra for added security.
Both companies have invoked the Montreal convention, which regulates international shipments and sets a compensation limit for the loss of cargo. None of the statements or allegations filed in the lawsuit documents have been tested in the federal court which is hearing the case.
