- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a raid at the residence of Simran Preet Panesar, a 32-year-old former manager at Air Canada, who is currently facing a nationwide warrant in Canada linked to his alleged involvement in the April 2023 gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
An ED team visited Panesar’s home in Sector 79, Mohali, Punjab, on Friday morning, where they began questioning him, as confirmed by a senior ED official.
According to The Indian Express, Panesar had been residing on the outskirts of Chandigarh. The ED has initiated a rare investigation into a crime that extends beyond India’s borders, specifically focusing on potential money laundering related to this case, given that the accused is now in India. Investigators aim to determine whether any of the stolen gold or its profits have entered India.
Regarding the Toronto gold heist that occurred on April 17, 2023, it involved the use of fraudulent documents to steal an air cargo container containing gold bars from a secure storage area at the airport. This cargo included 6,600 bars of 99.99% pure gold, weighing 400 kilograms, valued at over 20 million Canadian dollars (CAD), along with foreign currency totaling 2.5 million CAD. The gold and currency had arrived on an Air Canada flight from Zurich, Switzerland, and were meant for a bank in Toronto.
After the flight landed, the cargo was unloaded and moved to a different location on airport grounds, but it was reported missing to the police the following day. The Peel Regional Police (PRP) characterized the theft as Canada’s largest gold heist, charging nine individuals, including Panesar, in April 2024, and issuing a warrant for his arrest. Both Panesar and another suspect, Parampal Sidhu, previously lived in Brampton and were employed at the airport’s warehouse facility.
So far, Canadian authorities have been unable to recover the stolen gold; only 90,000 CAD is reported to have been retrieved by the PRP from the heist.
