Three suspects still at large in $20M Pearson gold heist
A year after Peel Regional Police announced multiple arrests related to the $20-million gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport, three suspects remain at large.
A year after Peel Regional Police announced multiple arrests related to the $20-million gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport, three suspects remain at large.
The robbery in 2023 involved 6,600 gold bars and $2.5 million in cash, which were stolen from an Air Canada cargo facility on April 17, 2023.
The shipment had arrived from Zurich, Switzerland, and was offloaded at the airport just before 6:30 p.m.
Police allege that a suspect arrived with a fraudulent airway bill, which allowed the container to be loaded into a truck and driven away.
Video surveillance showed the truck traveling west into the Halton Region before being lost north of Milton.
It wasn’t until 9:30 p.m. that Brink’s employees arrived at the cargo site to retrieve the shipment and discovered it was missing.
Police were contacted the next day, and an investigation was launched.
Since then, authorities have identified nine individuals linked to the case.
Those charged include Parmpal Sidhu, a 54-year-old Air Canada employee; Ali Raza, a 37-year-old Toronto jewelry store owner; Amit Jalota, 40, from Oakville; and Ammad Chaudhary, 43, of Georgetown.
Three men are still on the run: Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, of Mississauga; Simran Preet Panesar, 31, of Brampton, a former Air Canada employee; and Prasath Paramalingam, who faces multiple charges including firearms trafficking.
A bench warrant was issued for Paramalingam after he failed to appear in court in August.
Investigators executed 37 search warrants and 70 production orders last April, seizing $430,000 in Canadian currency, along with gold-smelting equipment, casts, molds, and six roughly made gold bracelets valued at more than $89,000.
The truck used in the heist was also recovered.
While the investigation continues, the vast majority of the gold remains unrecovered, and authorities are working with other police agencies to locate the outstanding suspects.
The Pearson robbery remains the largest gold theft in Canadian history, however, all those responsible have not been held accountable, since three suspects remain at large and the bulk of the stolen gold remains missing.