In a major development, a 36-year-old Indian man has been arrested in connection with the theft of gold worth 22 millions CAD (approx. 15 million USD) from Toronto's main airport, Pearson International Airport in Canada. About a month ago, five people were arrested in this case, which has been termed as the “single largest heist in Canadian history”.
As per police reports, investigators arrested Archit Grover at the Toronto airport on May 6, 2024. He had arrived at the airport from India. The 36-year-old is charged with theft over Canadian dollars 5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, police said in a statement on Thursday. According to reports, he is also being indicted in the US, alongside the man accused of being the driver who made off with the money, for firearm-related charges.
This comes a month after the arrest of 5 people charged in the case. Indian-origin Parampal Sidhu (54) and Amit Jalota (40) were arrested from Ontario, along with Ammad Chaudhary (43), Ali Raza (37) and P Paramalingam (35) in the case.
The Toronto Pearson International Airport Gold heist
As per reports from the Canadian Police, on April 17, 2023, a container containing gold bars and foreign currency worth more than 22 million CAD was cleverly misplaced and then disappeared from a secure storage facility with false paperwork. The gold and currency were transported on an Air Canada flight from Zurich, Switzerland to Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Soon after the container was moved to a different location at the airport but was reported missing to police a day later.
The container was kept in an Air Canada holding facility, where the staff were tricked into offloading the container onto a getaway truck through forged documents. The truck then allegedly offloaded the container somewhere in a rural area north of the town of Milton in Ontario, Canada.
Subsequently, the Canadian Police initiated an investigation, collaborating with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in the US.
Nine people have been charged in relation to the heist, with 6 people arrested. Canada-wide warrants were issued for Simran Preet Panesar, 31, from Brampton, who was also an Air Canada employee at the time of the theft and Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, from Mississauga.