After a year, Canadian police crack gold heist case, arrest 6 including 2 of Indian-origin
The robbery, worthy of a Netflix series, was an inside job involving serving and now former employees of Air Canada including two of Indian origin, police said
One of the most audacious gold heists in Canadian history has been resolved with the arrests of six men, including two of Indian origin, but only 90 kg of the 400 kg of stolen gold has been recovered.
Police announced the cracking of the mind-boggling theft on April 17, exactly a year after the crime occurred at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
Police say the daring robbery was worthy of a Netflix series and was an inside job involving serving and now former employees of Air Canada including Parmpal Sidhu and Simran Preet Panesar.
Modus operandi
It all began when 6,600 bars of .9999 per cent pure gold weighing 400 kg as well as foreign currency valued at 22 million Canadian dollars reached the Toronto airport from Zurich in Switzerland.
The cargo was taken to a secure storage facility in the airport on April 17 last year, the Canadian media reported.
That very evening, a container truck drove up to the airport and was loaded with the precious cargo by Air Canada employees who reached the gold using forged paperwork.
Within hours, the truck tore through urban and rural areas and disappeared out of sight, leaving the Canadian police perplexed. The case eventually went cold.
How the theft came to light
The critical break came when a driver was pulled over in September last year in Pennsylvania in the US with a rented vehicle that had 65 illegal firearms.
Those weapons were meant to be sold on the black market in Canada and were likely purchased with proceeds from the Toronto heist.
As the authorities connected the dots, the police in Canada made major breakthroughs.
Authorities said two Air Canada employees and a Toronto jewellery store owner were among the inner group which plotted the audacious airport crime.
Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity, a major case manager for 'Project 24K', as the case was named, told the media: “We believe the gold has been melted down and reconstituted.”
6 held, partial amount of gold recovered
Only $90,000 worth of the stolen gold has been recovered, police said on Wednesday (April 17), on the first anniversary of the heist.
Also seized was $430,000 in Canadian currency, believed to be profits from the sale of gold.
Six people have been arrested and there are Canada-wide warrants out for three others, including a former Air Canada manager who quit his post last year and reportedly gave police a tour of the facility before they knew of his involvement, the Toronto Star newspaper reported.
