Nine Charged in Canadian Gold Heist

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Facts

  • Canadian and US authorities have arrested six suspects, including two Air Canada employees, and charged three others in connection with the 2023 heist of CA$22M (US$16M) worth of gold bars and CA$2.5M worth of bank notes.1
  • The suspects are accused of stealing a container of 6.6K gold bars from a warehouse at Toronto Pearson Airport after it arrived on an Air Canada flight in April 2023. The container also contained bank notes headed to a Toronto bank for exchange.2
  • The two airline employees are Simran Preet Panesar and Parmpal Sidhu, the former having given police a tour of the facility prior to becoming a suspect. Panesar, as well as suspects including Archit Grover, Arsalan Chaudhary, and Durante King-Mclean, are in US custody.3
  • McLean-King allegedly used a fake Air Canada waybill to gain access to the holding facility, pretending to pick up a seafood shipment. He then loaded the truck with the valuables and left, after which a Brinks truck showed up with the real waybill.3
  • The suspected truck driver was caught in Pennsylvania after being stopped for a traffic violation, during which a State Trooper found guns in the car and the suspect fled on foot. Police believe the valuables were stolen to fund illegal arms trafficking into Canada.4
  • The authorities claim to have uncovered CA$430K ($312K) in profits from selling the gold as well as six makeshift gold bracelets worth an estimated CA$89K ($64K). The whereabouts of the rest of the gold is yet unknown.5

Sources: 1Reuters.com, 2New York Times, 3New York Post, 4CNN and 5barrons.com.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Torontosun. This heist was made possible solely due to it being an inside job. Thanks to these two corrupt airline staff, tens of millions of still-unaccounted-for dollars were stolen from the country. The gold is likely gone, as some of the criminals allegedly had ties to a jeweler, who likely melted and sold it. While most of the money is gone, the police did a tremendous job on this case.
  • Narrative B, as provided by SupplyChainBrain. While this movie-like story involves several villains, an important factor to remember is that Air Canada was in charge of protecting these valuables until an official Brinks truck arrived to pick them up. The airline failed, however, and thus Brinks is suing the airline for being negligent and careless. Air Canada must be scrutinized for its systemic failures in this case.