Nine facing charges in the wake of Canada’s biggest gold heist

Airline staff helped orchestrate €15m robbery in Toronto airport warehouse

Canadian police said nine people are facing charges in what authorities are calling the biggest gold theft in the country’s history from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport a year ago.

Peel Regional Police said 6,600 gold bars worth more than CA$20m (€13.6m), and CA$2.5 million (€1.7m) in foreign currencies were stolen. The gold was melted down and used to purchase illegal firearms, police said.

Those charged include an Air Canada warehouse employee and a former Air Canada manager who gave police a tour of the facility after the theft. A jewellery store owner is also charged.

“This story is a sensational one and which probably, we jokingly say, belongs in a Netflix series,” Peel regional chief Nishan Duraiappah said.

Peel regional detective sergeant Mike Mavity said the gold bars, weighing 419 kilos, and foreign currency, ordered from a refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, were transported in an Air Canada flight on April 17 last year.

He said that late in the afternoon a truck driver arrived at the airline’s cargo warehouse with a fraudulent bill that was provided to an airline warehouse attendant. Det Sgt Mavity said a bill for seafood that was picked up the day before was used to pick up the gold. The duplicate bill was printed at the Air Canada warehouse, he said. “They needed people within Air Canada to facilitate this theft,” he added.

He said police are searching for the Air Canada manager who gave police a tour of the facility in the days after the theft. He said the manager left his job last summer but they have an idea of where he is.

Det Sgt Mavity said some of the suspects were known to police and some were not. He said they seized six crudely made bracelets made of gold.

“I don’t think I ever imagined they would have to deal with the largest gold heist in Canadian history,” said Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ontario. “It’s almost out of an Ocean’s Eleven movie or CSI.”

Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu (54); jewellery store owner Ali Raza (37); Amit Jalota (40); Ammad Chaudhary (43) and Prasath Paramalingam (35) are among those who have been arrested. Det Sgt Mavity said they have been released on bail conditions and will be in court at a later date.

Det Sgt Mavity said the truck driver that allegedly picked up the gold, Durante King-Mclean (25), is currently in custody in the US on firearms and trafficking related charges.

Police are searching for former Air Canada manager Simran Preet Panesar (31) as well as Archit Grover (36) and Arsalan Chaudhary (42).

Peel regional deputy chief Nick Milinovich said only CA$90,000 has been recovered.

Brinks, an American cash handling company, arrived at the airport cargo facility the night of April 17 to pick up the gold and were told the gold and currency was missing after a search.

Brinks sued Air Canada over the theft last year.

According to the company’s filing last year, a thief walked away with the expensive cargo after presenting a fake document at an Air Canada warehouse on April 17.