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Police have arrested another accused in the biggest gold theft case in Canada. Peel Regional Police said that gold worth more than Rs 180 crore was stolen from Toronto Airport in 2023. It has also been claimed that the main accused in this case is in India.
According to police, 43-year-old Arsalan Choudhary was arrested at Toronto Pearson International Airport as part of an ongoing investigation called ‘Project 24K’. He was returning to Canada from Dubai. Police say that Chaudhary has no permanent address.
According to Peel Regional Police, Arsalan Chaudhary has been charged with theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime and criminal conspiracy. Investigative agencies say that this arrest is an important part of the ongoing investigation at the international level.
How Canada’s biggest gold theft happened On April 17, 2023, at 3:56 pm in Canada, a flight coming from Zurich city of Switzerland landed at Pearson International Airport in Toronto city of Canada.
This flight brought 6,600 bricks of pure gold and foreign currency worth about 2.5 million dollars (more than Rs 21 crore). The total weight of gold was about 400 kg, whose value was Rs 173 crore.
The cash was to be deposited in the ‘Bullion and Currency Exchange’ of Vancouver and the gold was to be deposited in TD Bank of Toronto. The gold and cash were kept in the cargo compound of the airport. According to Canadian Police, the sleeping container was in the cargo facility till 5:50 pm on the day of the incident.
At 6:23 pm, a large 5 tonne truck was parked outside the facility. A person entered the warehouse from this truck with a fake airway bill. This bill can be seen in the hand of this person captured in CCTV.
A truck parked outside the facility. (Source- Canadian Police)
This bill was actually for the delivery of sea food. Which had been taken from the cargo warehouse a day earlier. According to Canadian Police, actually a man inside the airport had taken out the old bill from the printer and replaced it with another bill.
According to the CCTV footage, at 7.04 pm the truck driver reached the sleeping cargo in the warehouse. At 7:27 pm the cargo was picked up and loaded into the truck and within the next 3 minutes the truck left the warehouse.
The theft of 400 kg of gold was carried out in just three and a half hours after the flight landed.
At around 9.30 pm, when the real truck of a security company reached the airport to collect the gold cargo, it was found that the gold had already gone missing. At 2:23 in the morning, Air Canada called the Canadian Police and informed them about the incident.
Clayten Castellino is President of the Customs Clearance Business in Toronto. He told CBC News that to move a cargo through a cargo facility, only two things are required – a letter from the consignee and an airway bill. This bill must have the correct bill number. The thieves had both the documents. According to Clayten, they were not investigated properly.
Former employee of Air Canada also accused
Investigation revealed that 33-year-old Simran Preet Panesar, a resident of Brampton, played an important role in this theft. Panesar is a former Air Canada employee and is accused of tampering with the airline’s systems to divert cargo. Police say he may currently be in India and a Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued against him.
Action taken against 10 people so far
Police said that so far 10 people have been made accused in this case. These include Brampton residents Archit Grover, Parampal Sidhu, Amit Jalota, Prasath Paramalingam, Ali Raza, Ammad Chaudhary and Durante King-McLean. King-McLean is currently in custody in the US in another arms smuggling case.
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said this investigation shows police are capable of dealing with complex and international crimes. “No matter where the accused are hiding, we will find them and bring them before the law,” he said.
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