Jewelry, clothes heist targets Ontario’s biggest shopping centre; Mississauga man charged 

A Mississauga man faces charges after jewelry, clothes and other items worth nearly $1 million were stolen during an overnight break-in earlier this year at a high-end Square One Shopping Centre department store.

Peel Regional Police said most of the stolen goods taken from Holt Renfrew in the brazen City Centre theft have been recovered.

Speaking to the media at a press conference on Friday at Square One, the largest shopping mall in Ontario and second-biggest in Canada, police said officers responded to the break-in at around 1 a.m. on April 30.

According to investigators, a masked culprit “used tools to gain entry” to the store and stole “high-value jewelry and clothing from multiple displays.”

The man then fled the store on foot before stealing an unoccupied vehicle that had been left running nearby, police said, adding the car was recovered the following day by patrol officers.

Subsequent investigation by the Peel police Break-and-Enter Auto and Retail organized crime squad, aka BEAR unit, that included “extensive video canvassing” led to the identification of a suspect, police said on Friday.

A search warrant was then executed at a Mississauga residence, where police recovered “a significant quantity of stolen property.”

Amir Nikbakht, 41, of Mississauga, is charged with:

• Break, enter and commit an indictable offence
• Possession of break-in instruments
• Disguise with intent
• Theft of motor vehicle
• Weapons dangerous
• Fail to comply
• Breach of probation

He was held in custody pending a bail hearing.

Police said their investigation remains active as they work to identify additional victims and related thefts.

Peel police Deputy Chief Marc Andrews said on Friday such retail thefts are “not petty crime” and they’ve “become endemic in our community.”

While retail theft has remained consistent in Peel in the past 12 months, the number of arrests and charges has increased by more than 30 per cent, police said.

That reflects how Peel police are now tailoring their approach to such crimes, they said in a news release following Friday’s press conference in downtown Mississauga.

Investigators are using “strategic, intelligence-led enforcement efforts,” including the relatively new BEAR squad, “to disrupt and dismantle organized retail theft networks operating across the region,” police explained.

BEAR unit formed in September 2025

The BEAR squad is a crime-fighting team formed last September to reduce break-ins and car thefts in Mississauga and Brampton. It utilizes a specialized unit of plainclothes officers that targets “organized break-and-enter and auto-related crimes.”

The squad is part of a pilot project designed to “enhance enforcement, strengthen victim support and proactively disrupt criminal networks affecting communities across Peel,” police said earlier.

The BEAR unit was established “after a growing trend of calculated and coordinated crimes was identified in Peel, including break-and-enters and auto theft,” police noted earlier.

Since its launch, the BEAR organized crime squad has made 93 arrests and laid 577 charges, Peel police said.

Andrews added the BEAR unit “is a strong example of how we listen and adapt our response to emerging crime trends.”