Nine arrests made in $14.8 million gold heist at Toronto airport, only fraction recovered

Nine people were arrested and search warrants were issued for three others in last year’s $14.77 million (C$20 million) gold heist at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Canadian officials announced Wednesday.

Police recovered only six pure gold bracelets worth more than $65,000, a fraction of the gold that was stolen from a commodity storage facility last April. Authorities announced the arrests on the first anniversary of the heist.

Police said 6,600 pure gold bars weighing more than 400 kilograms and foreign cash worth around $1.8 million were stolen during the heist. They believe the thieves melted down the gold, sold it and then used the proceeds to buy illegal firearms as part of a trafficking operation, said Regional Police Detective Sgt. Peel. Mike Mavity said at a news conference Wednesday.

Police seized $312,000 in cash, which they say is part of the profits the suspects made after selling the gold. Police also seized foundries, castings and molds that they believe were used to change the composition of gold bars, according to Mavity.

They also found two listings representing $7.21 million and $10.23 million in two separate locations.

“A common term in drug trafficking investigations, we believe these lists actually show where the money was distributed when the gold was sold by the suspects,” Mavity said.

During the year-long investigation, authorities say they executed 37 search warrants and interviewed more than 50 people. They laid 19 charges against individuals in this case.

Canadian police worked in cooperation with the Philadelphia Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which arrested an individual in the United States who was in possession of 65 firearms. illegal fire.

He was stopped during a routine traffic stop, which resulted in his arrest. He was later identified as the driver of the truck during the robbery, police said.

Police are still searching for a former Air Canada employee who allegedly helped the thieves, as well as two other people involved.

The gold and currencies stolen during the heist were ordered from a refinery in Zurich. They had been transported on an Air Canada flight to Toronto.

Shortly after the plane landed on April 17, 2023, the gold and cargo were transported from the plane to a cargo facility, Mavity said.

A suspect driving a five-ton truck arrived at the facility later that evening, providing a fraudulent airway bill to a cargo warehouse attendant and receiving the shipment. The airfare bill was a duplicate of the one used the day before to pick up a shipment of seafood, Mavity said.

The container containing the gold and foreign currency was then loaded onto the truck and the suspect left. The container was discovered missing later that night after Brink’s Canada employees arrived to retrieve it, Mavity said.