Nearly 2 tons of gold stolen from Toronto airport in movie-style heist

Air Canada has been known to lose luggage, but never two tons of gold.

Thieves rocked the Toronto Pearson International Airport Monday night and absconded with a cargo container full of gold and other monetary valuables. The airport is Canada's largest and one of the top 30 cargo airports in the world.

Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn with the Peel Regional Police told reporters that an aircraft landed at the airport on April 17 carrying a "high-value container" full of gold, reported CP24.

A person familiar with the matter told the Washington Post under the condition of anonymity that Air Canada had flown in the cargo — a 5-square-foot container.

"As per normal procedure, the aircraft was unloaded and cargo was transported from the aircraft to a holding cargo facility," said Duivesteyn.

The facility evidently failed to hold the cargo.

Police indicated that the cargo was removed by "illegal means" and that the value of the stolen goods was roughly $20 million CDN or $14.86 million USD. There is some indication that the thieves fled in a truck.

Sky News indicated that the market value of the haul could be as much as $104 million if the stolen gold indeed weighed 1.8 tons, as reported by the Toronto Sun.

The Post indicated that in terms of thieved value, this heist may best the maple syrup heist of 2011, when a group of thieves siphoned 9,571 barrels worth of syrup valued at $13.3 million USD on the down-low, replacing the stolen sticky substance with water. Sixteen people were ultimately arrested as part of a multi-year investigation that saw the syrup-sucking kingpin Richard Vallières brought to justice.

There was a similar airport gold heist outside Montreal in 1990.

The Associated Press reported at the time that thieves armed with AK-47 rifles ambushed a private plane chartered by Brink's Canada Ltd. and made off with approximately $13.7 million in gold ingots and other valuables. The thieves used a stolen garbage truck to smash through the airport fence and escaped in vans.

Police admitted that the bloodless robbery was "well executed" and "done by an organized group."

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority issued a statement Thursday, clarifying that "thieves accessed the public side of a warehouse that is leased to a third party, outside of our primary security line. This did not involve access to Toronto Pearson itself and did not pose a threat to passengers or GTAA staff."

"This is an isolated incident. ... This is very rare," said Duivesteyn. "For the public worried about flying out, there should be no concern. We do not consider this a public safety matter."

Police are presently uncertain whether the gold is still in the country, which is itself the fourth largest producer of gold in the world.

While Duivesteyn was unwilling to speculate on whether it was a professional job, he stated, "We're kind of keeping a broad outlook on it, so we're looking on all angles on how this item was stolen."

At the time of publication, no suspects had yet been identified.

Container with $20 million in gold, "high value" items stolen in heist at Toronto's Pearson Airportyoutu.be

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