Nine arrests, three warrants and 19 charges were laid in connection to the 2023 Toronto Pearson airport gold heist, Peel Regional Police announced in a news conference on Wednesday.
Peel Regional Chair Nando Iannicca said although headlines may read that it was a $24 million gold heist, the story is about reverse alchemy.
“This isn’t just about gold, this is about how gold becomes guns. It isn’t about stolen vehicles, stolen vehicles become guns,” he said.
A year ago, on April 17, 2023, a flight from Zurich landed at Pearson International Airport, containing a cargo of 6,600 bars of .9999 per cent pure gold, weighing 400 kilograms, valued at over C$24 million, and C$2.5 million worth in foreign currency, police said.
The cargo was offloaded and transported to an Air Canada warehouse at Pearson Airport, police said.
Police said the report of the missing cargo was received during the early hours of April 18, 2023.
Detective Sgt. Mike Mavity said a fraudulent airway bill was one of the tools used to carry out the heist.
He said the airway bill was for a legitimate shipment used the day before, after which a duplicate one was printed.
Mavity said surveillance videos showed a forklift was used to load a container with the gold and foreign currency onto the suspect’s truck.
The transport truck used to store the stolen goods was recovered by police officers and was present at the media conference.
Project 24K was launched as a joint task force with Peel Regional Police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
The funding for this investigation comes from the Ontario Government, Ministry of the Solicitor General, and is supported by the Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario, the police confirmed in a media release.
“We have arrested nine people, issued three Canada-wide arrest warrants and have laid 19 related charges,” Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said at the news conference.
The arrested include Air Canada employees and a warrant issued on a former employee, who at the time of the heist was working there, police said.
Police confirmed the two employees played crucial roles in the theft.
Among the six arrested is a 54-year-old Brampton man who worked for Air Canada. The others live in Toronto, Oakville and Georgetown. They were released on conditions and are to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton at a later date.
Three others are wanted by Peel, including another Air Canada employee.
Another man, believed to have driven a truck used in the heist, is being held in Pennsylvania after being captured by state troopers who recovered a cache of firearms.
“We have interrupted the transportation of a large quantity of firearms intended for import into Canada,” Duraiappah said.
He said the interception of 65 firearms by a Pennsylvania State Trooper saved lives.
“Gold can be insured, and so can cars. But people’s lives and what happens when guns are involved cannot,” Iannicca said.
He said it always comes down to guns and organized crime.
The truck driver was allegedly found with illegal firearms at the time of his arrest in the U.S., Mavity said.
U.S. officials said two of the firearms were fully automatic, 11 were stolen, and one had its serial number filed off.
ATF Special Agent Eric J. DeGree of the ATF said firearms trafficking poses a threat to public safety that could have otherwise been used in several violent crimes.
Investigators confiscated one kilogram of gold, smelting equipment and about $434,000, police stated in a media release.