Thieves steal $15M in gold, valuables in Toronto airport heist
Nearly $15 million in gold and other valuables was brazenly snatched from a “high value” shipping container at Canada’s busiest airport earlier this week, authorities said Thursday.
The heist unfolded after the cargo was unloaded from a plane shortly after landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday night.
“As per normal procedure, the aircraft was unloaded and cargo was transported from the aircraft to a holding cargo facility,” Peel Regional Police Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn said.
“The container contained a high value shipment. It did contain gold but it was not exclusive to gold. It contained other items of monetary value.”
The cargo, which was “regular aircraft container” size, vanished sometime later and the missing goods were subsequently reported to authorities, cops said.
Police wouldn’t reveal where the shipping container had come from — or its final destination.
They also did not elaborate on exactly what other valuable items were inside.
The value of the stolen items exceeds $14.8 million, or $20 million Canadian, police said.
“This is an isolated incident,” Duivesteyn insisted, adding the public had no reason to be concerned. “This is very rare.”
The thieves managed to access the holding cargo facility via the public side of a warehouse that’s leased to a third party, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority said in a statement.
That warehouse is outside the GTAA’s primary security line, it added.
The theft “did not involve access to Toronto Pearson itself and did not pose a threat to passengers or GTAA staff.”
No arrests have been made.
“We’re three days in, so our investigators have their eyes open to all avenues,” Duivesteyn said.
