Multiple Arrests, 19 Charges Laid in $20M Gold Heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport: Peel Police

Peel Regional Police have arrested five people, issued four arrest warrants, and laid 19 charges in connection with last year’s $20-million Toronto Pearson airport gold heist.

The arrests were announced on April 17, the one-year anniversary of the daring theft that Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah described as the largest gold heist in Canadian history, saying it was sensational enough to be the subject of a “Netflix series.”

Project 24K, the joint task force formed with the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau to investigate the “carefully-planned” heist, also intercepted a “large quantity of firearms” intended for import into Canada, Chief Duraiappah said.

The five men arrested as part of the investigation include an Air Canada employee and a jewelry store owner in Toronto. A sixth man wanted in connection with the theft is currently in custody in the United States on firearms trafficking-related charges.

Three Canada-wide warrants have also been issued by Peel police, one of which is for the arrest of a former Air Canada worker from Brampton, Ont.

The heist occurred last April 17 when a suspect made off with 6,600 gold bars worth $20 million CAD and roughly $2.5 million in various foreign currencies from an Air Canada storage facility at Toronto Pearson airport. The gold, which had been shipped to Toronto from Zurich, was loaded into a five-tonne truck, police said.

Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity, major case manager for 24K, said only $89,000 of the $20 million in stolen gold was recovered. The gold had been melted down into bangle-style bracelets to be sold.

More to come...

Editor’s note: This article was updated after police initially said nine suspects had been arrested. Police later clarified three of the nine suspects are wanted on Canada-wide warrants and a fourth is in U.S. custody.