$20M heist an ‘inside job’ as truck drove away with 6,600 gold bars from Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario
Published April 17, 2024 at 11:32 am
Six men have been arrested and three more are being sought on Canada-wide warrants in connection with what police say was an “inside job” leading to the high-profile and brazen theft of some $23 million in gold and cash one year ago today from Pearson Airport in Mississauga.
Police who held a press conference Wednesday morning in Brampton to reveal details of the year-long hunt for the stolen gold and subsequent arrests described the heist as the “largest in Canadian history,” one of the largest ever in North America and the sixth-largest in world crime history.
In addition, Peel Regional Police said, details of the daring April 17, 2023 theft of the valuable goods from an Air Canada cargo facility at Canada’s biggest and busiest airport read like a script from a Hollywood heist movie or the latest “Netflix series.”
Shortly after a flight from Zurich, Switzerland had landed with the precious cargo on board, two men allegedly used their positions inside the Air Canada warehouse to set the crime in motion, investigators said.
Using paperwork related to a shipment of seafood that had arrived the previous day, the men are believed to have prepared the shipment of gold and cash for transfer onto a five-tonne truck that had backed up to a loading bay at the cargo facility.
A warehouse worker used a forklift to load the valuables onto the large vehicle and the truck then casually drove away from the airport and headed to Highway 401, police said.
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A short time later, after exiting the country’s busiest highway just west of Oakville, the truck and its driver — and the 6,600 stolen gold bars worth some $20 million in Canadian funds in addition to $2.5 million (Canadian) in foreign cash — disappeared somewhere north of Milton.
Image shows partial route Peel Regional Police say a five-tonne truck took toward Milton shortly after it collected the gold and cash from an Air Canada cargo warehouse at Pearson Airport in Mississauga. (Photo: Peel Regional Police)
Fast-forward several months to last September when the man believed to have been behind the wheel of the getaway truck was arrested by state troopers in Pennsylvania as he drove a rental car allegedly carrying 65 guns that had been purchased using melted-down gold and were headed back to the streets of Canadian cities, police said.
As for the $20 million in gold bars, only about $90,000 of it has been recovered, police said, in the form of six gold bracelets.
Investigators said it’s nearly impossible to track down gold bars, which can be quickly melted down to become virtually untraceable and then turned into other items valuable to criminals such as guns and drugs.
The men who’ve been arrested and charged by Peel police include two suspects from Brampton, one of whom is an Air Canada employee, and one each from Oakville, Georgetown and Toronto.
They’ve been released on conditions and will appear in court at a later date, police said.
Additionally, a Brampton man believed to have been the driver of the truck is currently in police custody in Pennsylvania.
ATF Special Agent in Charge Eric DeGree speaks to reporters about the arrest of a man last September near Philadelphia who was allegedly driving a rental car carrying 65 guns.
Canada-wide warrants have been issued for three other men, including a former Air Canada worker from Brampton and two additional suspects from Brampton and Mississauga.
The huge heist last spring quickly garnered international headlines and put Peel detectives on the hunt for clues in what a number of experts have described as a well-organized and professional-style robbery.
Experts suggested almost immediately that the thieves who pulled off the heist likely had insider knowledge of the airport and its operations.
Meanwhile, Air Canada is facing a lawsuit from U.S.-based security services company Brink’s, the owner of the gold and cash. Canada’s flagship airline has said it bears no responsibility for the theft and in an earlier statement of defence it rejected all allegations in the Brink’s suit.
Air Canada insisted it fulfilled its carriage contract and has denied any careless or improper conduct.
The Pearson gold heist captured the attention of the public as it’s rare on Canadian soil for thieves to make off with such huge amounts of money, gold or other valuables.
By comparison, just over a decade ago, 3,000 tonnes of Canadian maple syrup, valued at $18.7 million, was stolen from a storage facility in Quebec. That’s become known as the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist.
It was the largest gold robbery in the country’s history at the time. The gold was headed for Montreal.
Facing charges in the April 2023 robbery at Pearson Airport are:
- Parmpal Sidhu, 54, of Brampton (theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence)
- Prasath Paramalingam, 35, of Brampton (accessory after the fact of indictable offence and firearms trafficking, aiding and abetting, conspiracy — U.S. charges)
- Durante King-Mclean, 25, of Brampton (theft over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime — he’s currently in U.S. custody on firearms trafficking-related charges)
- Amit Jalota, 40, of Oakville (two counts possession of property obtained by crime, theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit indictable offence)
- Ammad Chaudhary, 43, of Georgetown (accessory after the fact of indictable offence)
- Ali Raza, 37, of Toronto (possession of property obtained by crime)
Canada-wide warrants have been issued for the arrests of:
- Simran Preet Panesar, 31, of Brampton (theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit indictable offence)
- Archit Grover, 36, of Brampton (theft over $5,000, conspiracy to commit indictable offence and firearms trafficking-related offence)
- Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, of Mississauga (theft over $5,000, two counts possession of property obtained by crime and conspiracy to commit indictable offence)
Gold bars shown in photo are not related to the heist from Pearson Airport in Mississauga.