LILLEY: Gold heist was an inside job with connection to gun smuggling
TorontosunApr 17
The Facts
Canadian and US authorities have arrested six suspects, including two Air Canada employees, and charged three others in connection with the 2023 heist of CA$22M (US$16M) worth of gold bars and CA$2.5M worth of bank notes.
The suspects are accused of stealing a container of 6.6K gold bars from a warehouse at Toronto Pearson Airport after it arrived on an Air Canada flight in April 2023. The container also contained bank notes headed to a Toronto bank for exchange.
The Spin
Narrative A
This heist was made possible solely due to it being an inside job. Thanks to these two corrupt airline staff, tens of millions of still-unaccounted-for dollars were stolen from the country. The gold is likely gone, as some of the criminals allegedly had ties to a jeweler, who likely melted and sold it. While most of the money is gone, the police did a tremendous job on this case.
Narrative B
While this movie-like story involves several villains, an important factor to remember is that Air Canada was in charge of protecting these valuables until an official Brinks truck arrived to pick them up. The airline failed, however, and thus Brinks is suing the airline for being negligent and careless. Air Canada must be scrutinized for its systemic failures in this case.