Montreal gold seizure may be linked to $21.1 million robbery from Pearson Airport in Mississauga Ontario

A police raid in Montreal on Tuesday in which a “large quantity” of gold was seized has investigators with Peel Regional Police wondering if there’s any connection to a brazen gold heist earlier this year at Pearson Airport in Mississauga.

Peel police are looking into a possible connection between the Montreal Police raid, which also turned up a number of illegal guns, and the unsolved April 17 theft of $21.1 million in gold from an Air Canada warehouse in the area of Pearson.

On that evening in April, it’s been reported that someone showed phoney paperwork at the warehouse and then walked away with the gold (24 bars, weighing 400 kilograms) and nearly US$2 million in cash shortly after the precious cargo had arrived on a flight from Switzerland.

The robbery earned immediate headlines around the world and captured the attention and imagination of the public as it was described as perhaps being the largest heist in Canadian history.

The Montreal raid in the east end of the city – with illegal firearms the intended target – also uncovered a “large quantity” of gold. The Service de police de la Ville de Montreal wouldn’t say how much gold was seized along with the nine guns, large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine (more than a kilogram each), and about half a million dollars in cash.

Montreal Police declined to provide any further details to the media.

Meanwhile, Air Canada is facing a lawsuit from security giant Brinks in the wake of the Pearson heist. In response, Canada’s flagship carrier says it bears no responsibility for the theft of more than $23 million in gold and cash from its facility at Pearson Airport.