The gold was melted in a jewelry store basement in the GTA after being stolen at Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario
Published April 23, 2024 at 5:04 pm
An unspecified number of the 6,600 gold bars stolen last year from a cargo warehouse at Pearson Airport in Mississauga in Canada’s largest-ever such heist were likely melted down at a jewelry store in the GTA not long after the brazen theft, police say.
In the wake of six arrests announced last Wednesday, exactly one year from the day a getaway truck took a load of $23 million in gold and cash from an Air Canada cargo facility and headed via Highway 401 for somewhere north of Milton, investigators said this week three other men being hunted in connection with the high-profile case have continued to evade authorities both in Canada and the U.S.
In an email statement to insauga.com on Tuesday, a Peel Regional Police spokesperson said the recovery by investigators of smelting pots, casts and molds used to change the composition of gold in the basement of a GTA jewelry store, in addition to other evidence, “leads us to believe that some of the gold was melted there” and then allegedly turned into illegal guns.
“Unfortunately,” the spokesperson continued, “we can’t get into the specific evidence that leads us to believe that…(and) at this time, we cannot get into precisely how much was melted there.”
The police spokesperson also noted that recovered gold bracelets worth nearly $90,000 “were not found at the same location as the smelting tools, and we cannot divulge where they were found at this time.”
One of the men facing charges is the owner of a Toronto jewelry store.
(Photo: Peel Regional Police)
Meanwhile, investigators both in Peel and Pennsylvania, where the man alleged to have driven the five-tonne getaway truck on April 17, 2023 was arrested and charged last September with trying to smuggle guns into Canada, are appealing to the public for help in finding the three men still at large.
Canada-wide warrants have been issued for the arrests of:
- Simran Preet Panesar, 31, of Brampton (theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit indictable offence)
- Archit Grover, 36, of Brampton (theft over $5,000, conspiracy to commit indictable offence and firearms trafficking-related offence in the U.S.)
- Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, of Mississauga (theft over $5,000, two counts possession of property obtained by crime and conspiracy to commit indictable offence)
Grover is also being sought on an arrest warrant by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Harrisburg, PA.
A woman from Fort Lauderdale was arrested last Thursday by U.S. authorities on charges that she helped conceal evidence related to the attempted gun smuggling.
Jalisa Edwards, 25, and Grover were charged by a grand jury in Pennsylvania “as accessories after the fact for their alleged assistance” to one of the other suspects in, among other things, concealing evidence.
The five-tonne truck used to steal $20 million in gold and $2.5 million in cash from Pearson Airport in Mississauga. (Photo: Peel Regional Police)
Video capture shows what police say was the container of gold and cash being loaded onto a truck at an Air Canada cargo facility at Pearson Airport. After leaving with the valuable load, the driver took Highway 401 to Milton before eventually disappearing somewhere north of there. (Photo: Peel Regional Police YouTube)