Air Canada Workers Charged for $22 Million Gold Heist

Police have made multiple arrests in relation to last year’s multimillion-dollar gold heist from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, and two Air Canada employees have been charged. 

Last spring, 6,600 gold bars worth more than $14.5 million ($20 million CAD) and foreign currencies amounting to $1.8 million ($2.5 million CAD) were stolen from the Canadian airport after being transported from Zurich on an Air Canada flight. 

On Wednesday, April 17, Peel Regional Police and the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau held a press conference about the case. Characterizing the heist as an inside job, the police detailed how a truck driver was able to use fake documentation to drive away with the high-value container. 

Several people have been charged, including an Air Canada warehouse employee Parmpal Sidhu and former Air Canada manager Simran Preet Panesar. Sidhu is in custody, but Panesar, who gave police a tour of the facility after the theft, has not been detained. He resigned from his position last summer and his location is currently unknown.

“This one is a carefully planned and well-organized group of criminals from both inside and outside of airport facilities that orchestrated this theft,” Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said.

Lead investigator Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity said the theft was the largest gold heist in Canadian history. “They needed people inside Air Canada to facilitate this theft,” he noted.

On April 17, 2023, a man drove off with the gold and currency in a five-tonne truck. He gained access to the warehouse after presenting a legitimate airway bill that had been printed within the Air Canada facility.  Police said the airway bill was a duplicate of a document used for a seafood shipment the previous day.

Brinks, the security company hired to transport the money, sued the airline last fall for reckless negligence in handling the high-value cargo, pointing to the lack of safeguards. Air Canada denied these allegations. 

“Air Canada … denies each and every allegation contained in the statement of claim,” the airline said in a statement of defence asking for the suit to be dismissed.

Peel Regional Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said only $65,000 ($90,000 CAD) has been recovered.