Peel police say $20M worth of gold, other goods stolen from Toronto Pearson Airport

Peel Regional Police are investigating after $20 million worth of gold and other high-value items were stolen from a holding cargo facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Peel Regional Police Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn says a cargo container holding gold and other goods were stolen from Pearson Airport on Monday.

“Once this cargo was offloaded at a holding facility, subsequent to its arrival, this high-value container was removed by illegal means,” said Duivesteyn.

The Peel police airport division has been leading the investigation.

“Our goal is to solve this theft,” said Duivesteyn. “We want to solve it. I cannot provide exact details… what I can say is we feel this to be an isolated incident. For the public worried about flying out, there should be no concern. We do not consider this a threat to public safety.”

Toronto’s Pearson Airport is often used to transport gold mined in Canada so it can be shipped to customers globally. The Toronto Sun was the first to report on a gold heist at Pearson.

Peel police ‘has great relationship’ with RCMP

Ontario’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police initially said that its unit was aiding in the investigation. Peel’s police force has a great working relationship with the RCMP which remain “a quick call away,” Duivesteyn said, but the investigation currently remains in Peel police’s jurisdiction.

Inspector Duivesteyn said this is believed to be an isolated incident, and there were no disruptions at the airport. The inspector would not say where the shipment flew in from or whether this robbery was tied to local organized crime gangs.

“This is a rare event, certainly,” Duivesteyn said.

An undated photo of Toronto Pearson International Airport. Photo: Flickr.

According to the Globe and Mail, citing a person familiar with the situation, Air Canada’s cargo operations were handling the gold shipment when it was taken on Monday.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) tells CityNews that Pearson was briefly locked down for 18 minutes due to a security incident on Thursday.

“I cannot discuss details on security issues other than confirming that this was a containment issue,” the GTAA spokesperson said.

That security incident was not related to Monday’s robbery.

With files from The Canadian Press