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A gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) led to the arrest of nine people with search warrants out for three others. The incident occurred in April 2023 when an Air Canada flight arrived from Switzerland carrying 6,600 gold bars and $1.8 million in cash.
ABC News is reporting that police have reported that only six pure gold bracelets (worth over $65,000) and $312,000 in cash have been recovered. The rest of the gold is believed to have been melted and sold. The 400 kilograms of gold and foreign cash being transported for currency conversion are believed to have been used to purchase illegal firearms.
The investigation has taken one year and police have interviewed over 50 people, executed 37 search warrants, and arrested 19 people. Canadian police worked in tandem with the Philadelphia Field Division of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to arrest one individual back in September 2023 with 65 illegal firearms in Pennsylvania.
The incident played out like something out of Ocean’s Eleven. A container with the gold and cash was transported from the aircraft to an Air Canada warehouse. A truck driver came to pick up the shipment around two hours later. He had a duplicate waybill to pick it up, but it was actually one for a shipment of seafood that had been collected a day earlier. It was printed using an Air Canada printer and looked official. The container was loaded onto the truck and it drove off. The next morning a Brink’s armored truck arrived to rightfully pick up the cargo, but it was gone. Police were informed and the investigation began.
The gold heist is being used to fund some nefarious purposes for sure. It appears that the proceeds are being used to purchase illegal firearms and then smuggle them into Canada. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Anthony’s Take: This would make for a good action movie. We’ll have to wait to see how this plays out in court and if anything else is recovered.
(Image Credits: Air Canada and qingwa.)
(H/T: One Mile at a Time.)
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1 comment
Hello, I was terminated by Air Canada Cargo YVR in October of 2021 for insubordination. I would not continue in an unnecessary meeting fora matter that I followed SOP’s. AC operations manager “did not direct this” it was ordered from three upper managers. Vindictive and petty! Corrupt? Look at YYZ?