An inside job.That’s how Toronto police are describing the largest gold heist in Canadian history after at least two present and former Air Canada employees were snagged in a joint Canada-US dragnet.Nine people are facing 19 charges in connection with the robbery that occurred exactly one year ago, on April 17, 2003. That’s when $20 million in gold bars — weighing more than 400 kilograms — and $2.4 million in cash was loaded onto the back of a five-tonne delivery truck after one of the suspects showed up at an Air Canada warehouse with a false waybill..According to police, insiders produced a duplicate certificate using a printer from within the facility. Brinks Canada, which was hired to provide security and logistics services for the shipment, showed up a few hours later to pick up the items but they were already gone.“The airway bill was for a legitimate shipment of seafood that was picked up the day before,” Det.-Sgt. Mike Mavity, the major case manager for the joint investigation, dubbed Project 24K, told a press conference in Toronto on Wednesday.“This duplicate airway bill was printed off from a printer within Air Canada cargo.”.The case was broken open in September of 2023 after one of the suspects, 25-year-old Durante King-Mclean of Brampton, was pulled over for motor vehicle violations in Pennsylvania where they found a trove of weapons including fully-automatic machine guns destined for Canada in the car. The US authorities determined he was in their country illegally and wound up tracing evidence and associates back to the heist.A second man, 34-year-old Prasath Paramalingam orchestrated King-Mclean’s illegal entry into the US and provided funds to purchase the various firearms which were obtained in Florida, Georgia and elsewhere.A total of 65 firearms destined for Canada were seized including two fully automatic machine guns. Another 11 items were stolen. Five of the 65 handguns are known as ‘ghost guns’ meaning that they were not serialized and, therefore, are untraceable. “We are alleging that some individuals who participated in the gold theft are also involved in aspects of firearm trafficking,” said Mavity..Also seized in the bust were gold smelting tools, jewelry items presumably fashioned from the stolen gold and about $430,000 in Canadian currency — presumed to be profits from the theft.One of the men charged, Ali Raza, 37, of Toronto, was running a jewelry store at the time.Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu, 54, of Brampton, Amit Jalota, 40, of Oakville, Ammad Chaudhary, 43, of Georgetown, were all charged and released on bail conditions.Canada-wide arrest warrants have also been issued for Simran Preet Panesar, 31 — a former Air Canada employee working with the airline at the time of the heist — Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, and 36-year-old Archit Grover, all of Brampton.King-Mclean and Grover remain at large. Canada-wide warrants have been issued for their arrest.
