The Peel Regional Police in Canada have said that they believe the millions in gold stolen from Toronto Pearson Airport on April 17 last year was likely quickly smuggled out of Canada to the Middle East or South Asia.
"We believe a large portion has gone overseas to markets that are flush with gold," lead investigator Det. Sgt. Mike Mavity told members of the Peel Police Service Board during a June 21 meeting.
"That would be Dubai or India," he added.
The incident that occurred in April 2023 was Canada's biggest gold heist in history where more than CA$20,000,000 worth of gold was stolen in the form of 6,600 serialized bars.
Nine suspects have been arrested in the case including a jewelry store owner, a former Air Canada manager, and a warehouse employee.
The gold bars, weighing 419 kilograms (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.
According to the police investigation, on the afternoon of April 17 last year, a truck driver arrived at the airline’s cargo warehouse with a forged bill provided to an airline warehouse attendant.
The 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, police said.
Police are also linking stolen gold with cross-border gun trafficking, as dozens of firearms were seized from suspects in the investigation.
Although there is no substantial evidence to link the two, the police recovered two fully automatic weapons and several untraceable firearms.
The authorities have been able to recover only CA$90,000 from the heist as a small amount of precious metal was melted down in the basement of a Mississauga jewelry store soon after the heist.
Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu, 54, from Brampton, Ontario, jewelry store owner Ali Raza, 37, from Toronto, Amit Jalota, 40, an Oakville, Ontario resident, Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, Ontario and Prasath Paramalingam, 35, from Brampton are among those that have been arrested.
The investigation 'Project 24 Karat' has been ongoing for 15 months and looking are for both the missing gold and money that was likely made from its sale.
The investigation has cost $5.3 million so far, with an estimated final price reaching $10 million. Currently, the investigating team led by Sgt. Mavity is examining over 40 electronic devices seized from the suspects.
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