Toronto airport gold heist loot was melted in a forge in local jewelry store’s basement
TORONTO – Police say a large quantity — but not all — of the 400 kilograms of nearly pure bullion bars stolen in the Toronto airport gold heist was melted and transformed in a workshop in the basement of a local jewelry store.
Smelting equipment used to turn molten gold into long, thin strips, and another machine that can twist and shape metal into bracelets were found by police inside the basement forge that included an oxy-acetylene torch, crucibles, metal tongs, and moulds.
The equipment was seized by investigators on Project 24K, the Peel Regional Police task force that announced surprise arrests Wednesday, on the anniversary of the heist of gold from an Air Canada cargo warehouse within hours of it arriving on a flight from Switzerland.
Investigators believe the equipment was used to turn the traceable, serial numbered bricks of 99.99 per cent pure gold bars into untraceable pieces of jewelry, said Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity, case manager for Project 24K.
The jewelry store was in the Greater Toronto Area.
“We believe a large quantity of the gold, but not all of it, was melted down there,” he told National Post. “I can’t get into specifics at this time why we believe that, but I can say it is through our investigation.”
Mavity also confirmed the driver who came to collect the gold removed a glove from his left hand during the transaction, leaving behind a wayward fingerprint on paperwork used to facilitate the fraudulent pick up of the load.
“Yes, through fingerprint examination, supported by additional police investigative techniques, we identified him as the driver,” he said.
The smelting and jewelry equipment was allegedly used to make gold bracelets that look like cheap bangles, but because they are almost pure gold, they are valuable. Police found six bracelets, worth about $90,000.
The bracelets seized by police were not found at the jewelry store foundry, but Mavity believes they were made there. That is the only portion of the missing gold so far recovered.
If most of the gold was melted in that workshop forge, there must have been a lot of bracelets or other pieces moving out, and a constantly hot furnace to melt so much gold.
If police are right, the bandits must have prepared for the transformation of their loot as carefully as they plotted how to steal it.
“It is our opinion only that some of the gold has likely made its way into overseas markets that are gold trading hubs, by, for instance, forming it into the bracelets we found, and that some of it has been reconstituted into local markets,” Mavity said.
“From speaking to industry experts, once you melt it down there is no DNA, so to speak (to trace back to the gold bars).”
That is part of the strong allure of gold for criminals. Along with its resilient value and universal acceptance as a form of currency, gold is easy to transform and always finds a buyer.
Gold can even be melted in a robust household microwave.
The trick for crooks is to mask the origin of the gold so it can be resold into the legitimate marketplace, where it gets melted and transformed and sold again and again, eventually becoming wedding rings, investment coins, art, tooth fillings, cell phones and other electronics, and more gold bars for someone else to keep — or lose.