Nine face charges in biggest gold theft in country’s history

TORONTO (AP):

Police say nine people are facing charges in what authorities are calling the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto’s Pearson International airport a year ago.

Peel Regional Police said on Wednesday that 6,600 gold bars worth more than 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.5 million), and CDN$2.5 million ($1.8 million) in foreign currencies were stolen. The gold was melted down and used to purchase illegal firearms, the police said.

Those charged include an Air Canada warehouse employee and a former Air Canada manager, who gave police a tour of cargo 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 Sgt Mike Mavity said the gold bars, weighing 419 kilogrammes (923 pounds), and foreign currency, ordered from a refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, were transported in the haul of an Air Canada flight on April 17 last year.

He said that late afternoon a truck driver arrived at the airline’s cargo warehouse with a fraudulent bill that was provided to an airline warehouse attendant.

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 off at the Air Canada warehouse, he said.

“They needed people within Air Canada to facilitate this theft,” Mavity said in front of the truckwhich the police say was used in the theft.

Mavity 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 that manager left his job last summer and they have an idea where he is.

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, from Brampton, Ontario; jewellery store owner Ali Raza, 37, from Toronto; Amit Jalota, 40, a Oakville, Ontario resident; Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, Ontario; and Prasath Paramalingam, 35, from Brampton are among those that have been arrested. Mavity said they have been released on bail conditions and will be in court at a later date.

Mavity said the truck driver that allegedly picked up the gold, Durante King-Mclean, a 25-year-old from Brampton, 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, from Brampton, as well as Archit Grover, 36, from Brampton, and Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, from Mississauga, Ontario.

Peel Regional Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said only CDN$90,000 ($65,000) of the more than CDN$20 million has been recovered.

US ATF Special Agent Eric DeGree said King-Mclean was arrested in Pennsylvania after a traffic stop, and that led to the seizure of 65 illegal firearms that were allegedly destined to be smuggled into Canada. DeGree said he tried to flee after police discovered the firearms in his rental car.