Nine men — including two Air Canada employees — are facing charges for allegedly stealing $14.5 million in gold in a “sensational” heist worthy of a “Netflix series” at a Canadian airport.
Peel Regional Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of five men and the warrants for four others on the one-year anniversary of the caper at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
The whopping amount of loot was stolen from a shipping container at the airport in what’s considered the largest gold theft in Canadian history.
“This story is a sensational one and one which probably, we jokingly say, belongs in a Netflix series,” Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said at a press conference, according to City News Toronto.
Two of the nine suspects — Simran Preet Panesar, 31, and 54-year-old Parmpal Sidhu — worked for Air Canada.
Panesar had even given police a tour of the facility prior to them knowing he was involved in the alleged heist, police said, according to CP 24.
The other seven are: Durante King-Mclean, 25, Prasath Paramalingam, 34, Archit Grover, 36, Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, all four of Brampton; Amit Jalota, 40, of Oakville, Ammad Chaudhary, 43, of Georgetown, and Ali Raza, 37, of Toronto, according to the local outlet.
Grover, Arsalan Chaudhary, Panesar, and King-Mclean, who is currently in US custody, are still wanted by Canadian police.
They collectively face 19 charges, according to City News Toronto.
The nine men allegedly stole more than $20 million CAD, or roughly $14.5 million USD, in gold, as well as more than $2 million in foreign banknotes after King-Mclean drove a truck into the warehouse after giving a man a duplicated waybill.
The waybill had been reprinted on an Air Canada printer and said King-Mclean would be picking up a shipment of seafood that had actually been picked up the day before, according to The New York Times.
He then allegedly loaded up the shipment of 6,600 gold bars and banknotes — which were flown in from Switzerland on an Air Canada flight on April 17, 2023 — onto the truck two hours after it had arrived at the airport, according to The Times.
“They needed people inside Air Canada to facilitate this theft,” Detective Mike Mavity said at a press conference.
A Brink’s truck arrived to pick up the shipment with the real waybill shortly after. The company filed a lawsuit against Air Canada, alleging a thief had used falsified documents to get into the holding facility.
Air Canada denied the allegations that its employees did not properly examine the document and claimed it had not taken out insurance on the valuable cargo, according to City News Toronto.
Most of the stolen gold had been melted down and police recovered just a fraction of the haul — six bracelets valued at $89,000 CAD, or $65,000 USD, according to The Times.
Around $434,000 CAD, or roughly $315,100 USD, was also seized during the investigation that is believed to have been part of the profit they made off the metal, according to CP 24.
Police showed two handwritten lists of payouts to the men involved in the theft.
Chief Duraiappah believes the gold was used, in part, to buy guns and smuggle them into Canada, which is how King-Mclean got arrested outside the country.
The 25-year-old is currently in US custody after being pulled over in September in Pennsylvania on suspected motor vehicle violations, but is still wanted in Canada for heist-related charges.
Sixty-five firearms were found in his rental vehicle and were believed to be destined for Canada. Eleven of the weapons were stolen and two were fully automatic, according to City News Toronto.
King-Mclean and Paramalingam face conspiracy to engage in international firearms trafficking charges in the US.
US authorities believe Paramalingam orchestrated his partner in crime’s illegal entry into the US and had given him funding to purchase the firearms in Florida, Georgia, and elsewhere, according to the US Department of Justice.
Grover and Jalisa Edwards, 25, of Fort Lauderdale, were charged in the US as an accessory to King-Mclean’s crimes. Edwards is not wanted in Canada.
