Peel Regional Police have arrested a 43-year-old man at Toronto Pearson airport as he arrived from Dubai, the latest arrest in Project 24K, the investigation into the April 2023 theft of 400 kilograms of gold and $2.5 million in cash — the largest gold heist in Canadian history.
An arrest at the scene of the crime
Peel Regional Police say another suspect has been arrested in the theft of more than $20 million in gold and $2.5 million in cash from Toronto’s Pearson airport in 2023. Arsalan Chaudhary, 43, of no fixed address, was arrested at the airport on Monday as he flew in from Dubai, and charged with theft over $5,000, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and two counts of possession of property obtained by crime. He was held for a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton.
The arrest was not a takedown so much as a surrender. Insp. Mike Mavity told CBC News that Chaudhary had coordinated with his lawyers to turn himself in on arrival, though Mavity said he did not know specifically why Chaudhary chose to do so. “Let it be known: no matter where you try to run or hide, we will find you,” Chief Nishan Duraiappah said in a statement, crediting officers working with international law enforcement partners for disrupting sophisticated criminal activity.
Mavity said investigators believe two groups were involved in the heist: Air Canada workers who allegedly helped arrange the theft from inside, and a group of outsiders, to which Chaudhary belongs. “Once the gold was removed from Air Canada cargo, he helped, we believe, facilitate the sale and get it ultimately out of Canada,” Mavity said.
The heist
Police say that on April 17, 2023, a flight arriving from Zurich, Switzerland, carried a cargo shipment containing 400 kilograms of .9999-pure gold — roughly 6,600 bars, valued at more than $20 million at the time — along with about $2.5 million in foreign currency. The shipment, delivered on behalf of Brink’s for two clients, was offloaded to a holding facility on airport property and reported missing the following day. Investigators have said a suspect using a forged airway bill presented the cargo as seafood and drove it away.
Project 24K, the ensuing investigation, has become one of the largest in Peel police history. Ten people have now been charged or are the subject of warrants: seven suspects had previously been arrested before Chaudhary. Warrants remain outstanding for three men, all linked to Brampton — a 27-year-old who recently pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking charges in the United States and is expected to be sentenced later this year, and two others, including former Air Canada employee Simran Preet Panesar, who is believed to be in India and is the subject of an extradition request.
Very little of the gold has been recovered. Investigators have told reporters they retrieved only about $90,000 worth of gold that had been melted down and fashioned into crude bracelets, along with $430,000 in Canadian cash believed to be proceeds of gold sales — a fraction of a haul police continue to call the largest gold heist in Canadian history.
