Peel Regional Police have arrested six men in connection with a $22.5 million gold theft committed a year ago at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Three other men are still wanted.
“It’s a sensational story and one that, as we joke, could belong in a Netflix series,” said Peel Regional Police (PRP) Chief Nishan Duraiappah in a press conference broadcast in line Wednesday morning.
PRP collaborated with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on this joint investigation which resulted in six arrests, three arrest warrants and 19 charges.
Two male Air Canada employees allegedly actively participated in the theft, which the PRP described as “one of the largest gold thefts in Canadian history”, on the telephone with The Press.
The loot included 6,600 gold bars worth approximately $20 million Canadian dollars and nearly $2.5 million in foreign currency. The cargo was stolen on April 17, 2023, shortly after arriving from Zurich aboard an Air Canada plane.
During this investigation called Project 24K, police seized a significant quantity of firearms that were to be transported to Canada, and more than half a million dollars in gold and cash.
Parmpal Sidhu, a 54-year-old Air Canada warehouse worker, was arrested and charged with theft of more than $5,000, as well as criminal conspiracy, for playing a central role in the operation.
PHOTO CARLOS OSORIO, REUTERS
Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity
A warrant has been issued across Canada for the arrest of Simran Preet Panesar, a warehouse manager who had given investigators a “guided tour” of the cargo facility after the theft, according to Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity. The 51-year-old resigned from Air Canada last summer.
The subterfuge
A man in a five-ton truck arrived at the Air Canada cargo facility and gained entry using a fraudulent air waybill, which was a copy of the document used for a seafood shipment the previous day. The suspect then allegedly loaded the gold and cash into his vehicle and left the facility, Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity said at a press conference.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY PEEL REGIONAL POLICE
Durante McLean, 25, was the driver of the truck used to transport the stolen cargo.
The fraudulent air waybill was printed at Air Canada facilities, according to Detective Sgt.
It was the same evening, when Brink’s Canada employees came to collect the gold and cash, that Air Canada realized the cargo had disappeared. An internal investigation was immediately launched, and Peel Regional Police were contacted the next morning.
The police were able to reconstruct the route taken by the driver using videos recorded by business surveillance cameras and other sources, according to Mr. Mavity. The PRP, however, lost track of the suspect in the town of Milton, about forty kilometers from the airport.
The suspect identified
Investigators later discovered that 25-year-old Durante McLean was the driver of the truck. The young man is currently in custody in the United States after his arrest in Pennsylvania in September, according to Detective Sgt.
U.S. police officers allegedly found 65 firearms in his rental car, including two that had been modified to be fully automatic and five ghost guns without serial numbers, according to a PRP press release.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY PEEL REGIONAL POLICE
The firearms Durante McLean was carrying were on their way to Canada, police say.
“The thing that must be remembered is that there are 65 fewer weapons in circulation,” underlined the PRP, in an interview with The Press.
According to Mike Mavity, the firearms were in transit to Canada. “We presume that certain individuals who participated in the robbery are also involved in firearms trafficking,” said Detective Sergeant at a press conference.
Links to drug trafficking
In the past year, authorities executed 37 search warrants related to the investigation into the theft, which led to the seizure of $430,000 in cash, six pure gold bracelets believed to come from the theft, worth approximately $89,000, along with castings and vats.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY PEEL REGIONAL POLICE
The bracelets seized by investigators were allegedly made from the stolen gold.
According to Mr. Mavity, the gold was melted down and reconstituted on local and international markets.
Investigators also found lists of debts commonly associated with drug trafficking. According to the detective sergeant, the debts recorded on one of the lists totaled $10.23 million, while those on the other list totaled $9.94 million.
“We believe these lists show where the money was distributed when the gold was sold by the suspects,” added Mike Mavity.