One year ago, on the evening of April 17, a man presented a phoney waybill to Air Canada staff at a warehouse near Pearson airport. And walked out with 400 kilograms of pure gold and millions in foreign currency.
One year ago, on the evening of April 17, a man presented a phoney waybill to Air Canada staff at a warehouse near Pearson airport. And walked out with 400 kilograms of pure gold and millions in foreign currency.
On the one-year anniversary of the robbery of nearly $24 million in gold and cash from an Air Canada warehouse at Toronto Pearson Airport, Peel Regional Police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms announced six arrests, three nation-wide warrants and 19 charges laid from their joint task force, Project 24K.
One year ago, on the evening of April 17, a man presented a phoney waybill to Air Canada staff at a warehouse near Pearson airport. That person, according to court documents filed by Brink’s, then walked out with 400 kilograms of gold and $1.95 million USD cash.
Since then, police have made scant statements, the whereabouts of the money and gold have, until Wednesday, remained a mystery and a multimillion lawsuit over responsibility for a lapse in security is before the courts.
How did it all happen and what happens now? Here’s what you need to know on the one-year anniversary of the infamous Pearson airport gold heist
What happened in the Pearson airport heist?
It took Peel Regional Police three days before holding a press conference to announce its investigation into the $24 million worth of gold and cash that was quietly carted away from Toronto’s Pearson Airport.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which runs Pearson airport, was quick to distance themselves from the incident. A spokesperson told the Star that the thieves had accessed the public side of a warehouse leased out to a third party, later revealed to be Air Canada, and that the heist did not involve Pearson airport besides the theft’s geographic proximity to the robbery.
“Our investigators have got their eyes open to all avenues,” Insp. Stephen Duivesteyn of Peel police told reporters at the time. “We really don’t want to make an error and sort of focus on one particular area. We’re kind of keeping a broad outlook on it.”
Experts later told the Star that the heist was likely a methodically planned out professional job that may have had inside help, and that if police did not recover the stolen gold and cash quickly, it could be gone forever.
Brink’s sues Air Canada for the gold heist
Most of the details of the heist come from the Brink’s lawsuit against Air Canada, which it filed in October 2023, alleging the airline was “reckless” and failed to properly secure the company’s precious cargo.
The company’s Oct. 6 claim has not been tested in court.
According to the claim, Valcambi SA, a Swiss precious metal refinery, and Raiffeisen Schweiz, a Swiss retail bank, contracted Delaware-based Brink’s to transport the gold and cash from Zurich to Toronto.
Brink’s booked the shipment on board flight AC881 using AC Secure, a special service for handling valuable cargo for which the airline charges higher fees.
The flight landed at Pearson shortly before 4 p.m., and the shipments, which police have said were in a container about five to six square feet in size, was deposited at an Air Canada bonded warehouse at the airport about two hours later.
In a statement of defence, Air Canada fired back, denying the allegations made by Brink’s and claiming that the company had not taken out insurance on the valuable cargo.
“Brink’s Switzerland Ltd. elected for its own reasons not to declare a value for carriage and to pay the standard rate for the AC Secure services product and, to Air Canada’s knowledge, elected not to insure these shipments,” the airline said in its statement of defence. “Brink’s Switzerland Ltd. did so of its own volition and while fully aware the consequences.”
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