Police have named nine suspects in the Toronto Pearson theft of $24 million in gold and cash.

TORONTO — Two men who worked for Air Canada and a firearms dealer are among nine people charged in the theft of nearly $24 million in gold and cash from Toronto's Pearson Airport a year ago, police said Wednesday, offering new details about the incident. “sensational” story.

Peel Regional Police have filed 19 criminal charges against the suspects as a result of their joint investigation with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, known as Project 24K, including thefts of more than $5,000.

Police Chief Nishan Durayappa said on April 17, 2023, 6,600 gold bars weighing more than 400 kilograms and worth more than $20 million were stolen from Pearson International Airport. It's the biggest gold heist in Canadian history, he said.

“This story is a sensational story and we probably joke that it belongs in a Netflix series,” he said.

Det. Sergeant. 24K Project Manager Mike Maviti said the stolen gold and foreign currency were ordered from an oil refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, and were transported in the fuselage of an Air Canada flight to Toronto.

The flight arrived at 15:56 on April 17, 2023, and the gold and currency were unloaded and delivered to the Air Canada cargo facility at the airport.

The suspect then arrived at the freight facility driving a five-tonne truck and presented a fake waybill to the warehouse staff who loaded the cargo onto the truck,” Mawiti said.

“These are actual, legitimate seafood bills. It's just a copy. So the actual seafood was picked up the day before and they printed it at the Air Canada Cargo (facility),” he said.

Among those charged is a 54-year-old Air Canada employee from Brampton, Ont., police said.

Police have issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for a 31-year-old Brampton man who was an Air Canada manager at the time of the theft. Police say he conducted a “tour” of the cargo facility for police after the theft and left Air Canada last summer.

“They needed people inside Air Canada to facilitate this theft,” Mawiti said.

American security company Brink's filed a lawsuit against Air Canada, alleging that the thief presented false documents to obtain nearly $23.8 million in merchandise from a holding facility at Pearson Airport.

Brink's statement said Air Canada employees handed over 400 kilograms of gold worth more than $20 million to the thief, along with about $2 million in cash.

In its statement of defence, Air Canada denied any wrongdoing or responsibility for the theft and denied all allegations in Brink's lawsuit.

Peel police said Wednesday that investigators seized one kilogram of gold, valued at about $89,000, as well as smelting equipment and about $434,000 in currency, which was allegedly stolen.

They say their investigation also stopped an attempt to bring firearms into Canada from the United States, as a suspect who drove a truck with stolen gold from an airport was later caught with a firearm in Pennsylvania.

Mawiti said the suspect was stopped by Pennsylvania State Police near Chambersburg last September.

“After a short foot chase, he was caught and officers found 65 illegal firearms in the car,” he said.

“We suspect that some of the people involved in the gold theft are also involved in aspects of this firearms trafficking.”

This Canadian Press report was first published on April 17, 2024.

Maan Alhmidi, Canadian Press