Posted on 07/06/2024 2:10:04 AM PDT by jerod
Peel Regional Police have quietly conceded that millions in gold stolen from Toronto Pearson Airport in April 2023 was likely quickly smuggled out of Canada to the Middle East or South Asia.
"We believe a large portion has gone overseas to markets that are flush with gold," lead investigator Det. Sgt. Mike Mavity told members of the Peel Police Service Board during a June 21 meeting.
"That would be Dubai, or India, where you can take gold with serial numbers on it and they will still honour it and melt it down…. And we believe that happened very shortly after the incident."
Police have been investigating the low-tech robbery for almost 15 months — probing how a man gained entry to an Air Canada Cargo terminal with a duplicate waybill for a shipment of seafood, and then drove off with a palette full of gold bars. But few updates have been given to the press or public.
On the first anniversary of the heist, investigators held a splashy media conference to announce they had arrested nine men in connection with the case and were searching for three others.
Yet little was said about the links between the alleged criminals, or what ultimately happened to the 400 kilograms of still-missing gold.
The new Police Service Board briefing — delivered on a summer Friday, with no media present — came on the heels of a CBC News investigation highlighting several lingering questions about the heist, including the force's assertions that the robbery was a case of "reverse alchemy" where gold became guns, as evidenced by the seizure of 65 pistols. Peel Police declined an interview request for that story, and refused to answer written questions, even those pertaining to the most basic details of the crime.
Members of the board devoted several minutes of the meeting to criticism of the CBC News report, but the presentation by investigators validated much of the content of the CBC investigation.
Only a 'very small quantity' melted down in Mississauga
In addition to admitting the trail now points to Dubai and India, police also acknowledged the 6,600 gold bars were worth millions more at the time of the heist than they had repeatedly stated.
"Whether it's $20 million or $34 million might be a mitigating factor come sentencing, but it doesn't in my opinion change a lot," said Mavity. "From a police standpoint, the offence is theft over $5000."
The detectives also clarified statements they made during the April press conference, backing away from prior suggestions that all of the stolen gold had been melted down in the basement of a Mississauga jewellery store.
"We believe a very small quantity was melted at that jewellery shop," said Det. Gord Oakes.
"At no point were we ever alleging that 400 kilograms of gold were melted down in a small jewelry shop by hand. That wasn't the message that we were trying to relay," added Mavity.
Links between men charged
For the first time, police sketched out some of the alleged links between the men they have charged in connection with the robbery. Among the new details:
Archit Grover, charged with theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, is a "longtime friend" of Parmpal Sidhu, who was working at the Air Canada Cargo terminal at the time of the heist, and now faces identical charges.
Grover is the owner of the white truck that was used in the robbery, and the employer of Durante King-McLean, the man whom police say was driving the truck. King-McLean also faces a charge of theft over $5,000.
Grover's cousin, Amit Jalota, who faces two counts of possession of property obtained by crime, along with charges of theft and conspiracy, "looked after the gold" along with "an associate" Arsalan Chaudhary, who faces the same charges. Police allege that Jalota also "facilitated the melting" of a small quantity of gold via Ali Raza, the owner of a Mississauga jewellery store, who faces a charge of possession of property obtained by crime.
Prasath Paramalingam and Ammad Chaudhary, who both faces accessory after the fact charges, are accused of having "assisted" King-McLean cross into the United States after the robbery, and having "provided him with the ability to stay in the U.S. for a long period of time."
According to the briefing, police are still investigating the heist, and looking for both the missing gold and money that might have been made from its sale. Next steps, the board was told, include the examination of over 40 electronic devices seized from the suspects, and the issuing of production orders to financial institutions for banking records...
Just doing the crimes Canadian’s don’t want to do
Has anyone checked with the fibbies ? Maybe they were trying to divert attention away from the missing Civil War Gold the Guy in PA found. (I am still trying to figure out why the Guy contacted the fibbies in the first place.)
$20-30 million is pocket change to the hundreds of billions of stolen US tax dollars that found its way to Ukraine and politicians’ wallets.
Prasath Paramalingam
Ammad Chaudhary
Archit Grover
Parmpal Sidhu
Durante King-McLean
Amit Jalota
Arsalan Chaudhary
Ali Raza
Hmmm...
It almost seems that there is a causal pattern here..
Live in a moslem nation, suffer the consequences of a moslem nation...
When one exams all the crime in the U.S., the same trend can be easily seen....
But only if there was a citizenry that had there eyes open...
there == their
Um. Those are not Muslim names. They are Indian names.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJEbyWT7gIg&t=29s
IAC, they are foreigners who have brought their 3rd world crap to North America...
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