Air Canada $17 Million Gold Heist Was An Inside Job, Police Reveal

Peel Police announced 9 arrests and 3 Canada wide warrants outstanding in the theft of approximately $14.5 million in gold bars and $2 million U.S. in cash taken during a bold heist at Air Canada’s cargo facility at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport in April of last year.

Miami-based security company Brink’s had entrusted the gold and cash to Air Canada for transport from Zurich. The security firm was fulfilling a contract from two Swiss banks to transport 400 kg of gold and $1,945,843 in U.S. currency to Toronto in the cargo hold of one of the airline’s flights.

Investigators have revealed that two Air Canada employees facilitated the heist by helping to print an airwaybill that would legitimize the handover of the valuable cargo, which has largely been lost. Some gold, which was melted down and reshaped as six crude gold bracelets was recovered. Police value the six pure gold bracelets at $64,000. Additionally, police found smelting pots, casts, and molds used to process the missing gold bars. Canadian investigators also seized $430,000 in Canadian currency which they believe to be profits the suspects made when they sold the gold. Peel police did not say what happened to the U.S. currency originally stolen along with the gold.

Brink’s Lawsuit Against Air Canada

Brink’s sued the airline for failure to keep the goods safe after airline staff allegedly handed over the cargo of gold bars and cash to a truck driver who presented a forged waybill and then vanished with the goods.

As Forbes previously reported, Air Canada has disputed the lawsuit’s claims and said it fulfilled its carriage contracts. The airline argued that the Brink’s original cargo declaration did not include the value of the shipment, which would limit the airline’s liability under the guidelines of the Montreal Convention.

“Brink’s Switzerland Ltd. elected for its own reasons not to declare a value for carriage and to pay the standard rate for the AC Secure services product and, to Air Canada’s knowledge, elected not to insure these shipments,” Air Canada said in its filing.

It is unclear whether the liability might change now as Peel police reported that an Air Canada cargo manager and another Air Canada cargo employee colluded with a criminal network to covert gold to cash to guns.

Heist Truck Driver Arrested In Pennsylvania With Illegal Weapons In Rental Car

The driver of the truck involved in the heist was arrested in Pennsylvannia. After running away from a traffic stop involving a minor infraction, police discovered 65 illegal firearms in his rental car, which brought the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into the investigation. Searching the driver’s history officers found he was sought by Canadian police for the Pearson airport heist. He remains in custody in the U.S. The ATF continues to investigate a broader network of arms trafficking related to this case.

Airlines Transport High-Value Goods As Cargo

Airlines often transport goods as cargo on passenger aircraft, including high-value items. They have security procedures in place to keep all deliveries safe. In this case, the Air Canada employees were instrumental to facilitating the crime. They printed out a legitimate waybill from the day prior for a seafood cargo shipment and altered the document so that the truck driver could claim and haul away the gold and cash. The Air Canada employees involved are currently sought by police.

I reached out to Air Canada for comment. The airline replied in a statement, “We thank the police for their diligent efforts in investigating this matter. As this is now before the courts, we are limited in our ability to comment further. However, we can confirm, as stated by police, that two of the men they identified did work for Air Canada in the cargo division at the time of the incident. One left the company prior to the arrests announced today and the second has been suspended.”

Responding to my question of how it might change its processes to better ensure the security of cargo shipments, Air Canada stated, “The airline industry has historically worked on a model of closely reviewing incidents in order to ensure they can be prevented in the future and do not re-occur. For any safety or security incidents, we review the matter and make changes to processes, if warranted. However we cannot disclose them as their effectiveness depends in large part on their confidentiality. As we always have, we continue to be vigilant with respect to ways we can maintain and further improve safety and security.”

Regarding how Air Canada employee involvement in the heist might affect the airline’s defense of the Brink’s lawsuit, Air Canada said it could not comment on matters before the court.

Finding the culprits of this heist has been a joint-task-investigation dubbed Project 24K, and details of the investigation have been closely guarded until now. The investigation is ongoing and focused on following the money trail of the robbery and on the illegal weapons trade. Though the original bars had serial numbers, the gold is largely thought to have been melted and is now untraceable.

Peel police also revealed that some of the parties involved in the criminal enterprise are already out on bail.