Canadian police have finally put together the puzzle pieces of a brazen heist from a cargo warehouse in Toronto that involved thousands of gold bars and millions of dollars of cash. Nine arrests were made, including an Air Canada employee: this was an inside job.
Air Canada Employee Arrested For Role In Historic Gold Heist At Toronto Airport
The theft originally occurred at Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) in April 2023. A special cargo container loaded onto an Air Canada flight from Zurich (ZRH) contained millions of dollars worth of gold bars and banknotes. Upon landing at YYZ, the container was transferred to a secure cargo facility.
Pick-up by Brinks was scheduled for the next day, but two hours later another truck driver showed up with an Air Canada-printed waybill (document detailing the shipment) and was successfully able to obtain possession of the container. It was only when the Brinks truck showed up the next morning that the theft was discovered.
By then the truck driver had disappeared. Police believe the gold bars, which had serial numbers, were melted down to be crafted into jewelry. A jeweler in Toronto has been arrested, with bracelets believed to be from the melted gold bars seized and smelting pots also found.
An Air Canada employee suspected of printing the waybill and facilitating the deal has also been arrested. So has the truck driver, who was found in the USA carrying a truck full of guns:
Per the New York Times:
The man who drove the truck used in the gold theft was arrested in Pennsylvania in September after a police officer stopped a rental car he was driving for a traffic violation and found 65 guns, two of which were fully automatic rifles. The man has been charged with conspiracy to illegally traffic firearms into Canada.
The working theory is that the melted gold and banknotes were used to buy firearms in the USA, which the driver was trying to bring back into Canada. Handwritten notes located by the police detailed payouts for various people confirmed the conspiracy.
CONCLUSION
With so many parties involved, it is no wonder that the conspiracy eventually crumbled…stealing and disposing of 6,600 gold bars is no easy task. The plot was complex and involved guns, money, transborder shipping, and an Air Canada employee. I have a feeling that future gold bar pickups in Canada will not be delayed overnight…
> Read More: Air Canada Gold Heist
Rather predictably, there is an inside track to this theft and others such as it. While there is a possibility for hackers to track backwards or forwards a custody chain for high value movements of physical items and plot interceptions, most such theft operations are far more easily planned for and operated by people who are employed by people who are employed or related to those employed in positions where they observe the movements or are involved in the movements themselves.
What would be more surprising is if the theft operation were to have been done by “outsiders” with no sort of “inside track” knowledge/help. It’s not a bunch of US Visa Waiver Program users from Chile can just drop in and break into a major US or Canadian airport like they can do so with house breaks-ins in California, Arizona and elsewhere across the US.
@GU +1 . I urge all employers and all schools to spend 10 minutes reviewing the 10 Commandments Every Day .
Or maybe recognize the separation of church and state?
Rumor has it a wig salesman named Morrie was also involved.
Hopefully, this time, Stacks remembered to ditch the van.
65 guns isn’t suspicious. That’s just a good American enjoying their freedom while making America the safest country on Earth.
I must still be missing something about this scheme. 14.5 million should buy a lot of guns but could they be that profitable for the risk? Seems rather convoluted and probably why they were arrested. Always happy to have illegal gun salesman taken out of the picture.
I would guess that the illegal gun sales were a continuation of illegal activity of the same nature that was being done earlier by one or more of the people involved in this heist or the fencing and related whitewashing/money laundering of ill-gotten assets from the airport heist. And if so, this wouldn’t be the first time that illegal gun sales have been flagged down and resulted in confirmation of other criminal activity beside that of the illegal gun sales or were a follow-on to earlier thefts or illegal drug sales/distribution.
My suspicious nature views this heist as something far more than gun running or drugs. While local losers were employed, the amount and the ease of the theft could point to “dark money” funding another operation to which no one wants direct ties. The world has become a tinderbox that some bad actors wish to exploit.
Matthew, I wonder if the heist had something to do withe Sikh independence movement in Canada? Most of those arrested in Canada had names that seem to indicate Indian ethnicity. Not insinuating here, but seemingly very coincidental. And the vast majority of the money has not been recovered. And I also cannot help but note that Air Canada seems to be using all means possible to deny any blame.
Here are the people involved in the matter:
https://www.peelpolice.ca/modules/news/index.aspx?newsId=994a45b8-a543-4b92-9734-cde1b14df355&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR38xK4eT9am5B2mmFZpDvY0QM7_vNdVASjAl-b2qxwpm8zI40umsQZ_Nps_aem_ASm8BpdcnaJC_-Rxqzi6CDQECdHVH6aKNfobT_w7JFkca5eKNJyKUjkysLUqg1iqnXmUe8os0K67BZNf9pFlz29s
They most certainly aren’t all pro-Khalistani separatists.
The gang was a multi-religious group that encompassed people of different ethno/national origins. The joke long ago in South Asia was that the mafia gangs were more secular organizations than the governments chasing them down or making dirty deals with them.