Multiple arrests, 19 charges laid in $22.5M Pearson gold heist

Police say a task force investigating a multimillion-dollar gold heist at Pearson airport last year has arrested multiple people, laid 19 related charges and interrupted a “large quantity of firearms” intended for import into Canada in connection with the case.

Peel Regional Police announced the results of their year-long probe into the daring theft at a Wednesday morning news conference alongside a representative from the the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau.

One of the men arrested, a 54-year-old man from Brampton, is an Air Canada employee. An arrest warrant has also been issued for another man who was also an employee of the airline at the time of the theft, investigators said.

On April 17, 2023, a suspect stole 6,600 gold bars worth roughly $20 million CAD and about $2.5 million in various foreign currencies from an Air Canada storage facility at Pearson. The gold and cash had just arrived on a flight from Zurich.

The suspect was able to gain access to the warehouse using an airway bill — a document typically issued by a carrier with details on the shipment — that was actually for a shipment of seafood that had been picked up a day prior, investigators said.

Police said the theft was the largest gold heist in Canadian history.