Toronto Pearson gold theft: Peel Regional Police ready to announce arrests

Peel Regional Police are offering an update on last year's gold theft at Toronto Pearson International Airport Wednesday morning.

The Toronto-area police force, as well as the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said in a press release Tuesday that the update includes “information and arrests related to the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport.”

An update is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and will be live on globalnews.ca.

The heist at Canada's largest airport, in which $20 million worth of gold and other “valuables” were stolen, attracted international attention at the time.

The public was first informed about it on April 20, 2023; The theft happened three days ago.

At the time, Peel was a regional police inspector. According to Steven Duivestein, the plane carrying the expensive cargo landed at Pearson and its cargo was taken to a holding company that had been “illegally removed”.

“We're looking at all aspects of how this item was stolen, so I don't have any details on how it was stolen or if there are any suspects,” Duivestein told reporters on April 20, 2023.

He did not say which airline sent the cargo, where the cargo was headed, or where the plane came from.

“We cannot provide specifics of this investigation because we are three days in.”

Brink's Inc. details of what happened that day. company's October lawsuit against Air Canada. The claims have not been tested in court.

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In court filings, the American security company said that on April 17, an “unknown person” gained access to the airline's cargo warehouse and presented Air Canada employees with a “fraudulent” waybill, a carrier-issued document containing shipment information.

The employees then handed over 400 kilograms of gold (about 13.6 million Swiss francs, or more than $20 million) and nearly $2 million in cash to the thief, who “ran off with the luggage,” the statement said.

Brink arranged for Air Canada to fly the cargo from Zurich to Toronto in mid-April. It was delivered to Pearson before 4 p.m. on April 17, stored at an Air Canada warehouse at 5:50 p.m., and picked up by a mystery thief who showed up 40 minutes later, the documents show.

Alleging breach of contract, Brink's is seeking approximately $23 million in damages, as well as special costs and expenses.

Air Canada declined to comment while it was in court.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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