Some of the gold stolen in the $20-million gold heist at Pearson Airport last year was melted down in the basement of a 91原创-area jewelry store, police believe.
A Peel Police spokesperson said they seized smelting pots, casts and moulds from the basement of a 91原创-area jewelry store 鈥 equipment they believe was used to melt the stolen gold.
Some Pearson heist gold was melted in basement of 91原创-area jewelry store, police believe
Six people have been arrested and 91原创-wide warrants are out for three other suspects in the April 2023 heist, the largest gold theft in Canadian history.
Some of the gold stolen in the $20-million gold heist at Pearson Airport last year was melted down in the basement of a 91原创-area jewelry store, police believe.
In a statement shared with the Star, a Peel Police spokesperson said they seized smelting pots, casts and moulds from the basement 鈥 equipment they believe was used to melt the stolen gold.
The spokesperson could not say how much gold was melted at the jewelry store. The gold bracelets recovered by police were found at a different location, the spokesperson said.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
A Peel Police spokesperson said they seized smelting pots, casts and moulds from the basement of a 91原创-area jewelry store 鈥 equipment they believe was used to melt the stolen gold.
Peel Police
Six people have been arrested and 91原创-wide warrants are out for three other suspects in the April 2023 heist, the largest gold theft in Canadian history and the sixth largest in the world. A van driver presented Air 91原创 staff at a the warehouse near Pearson airport with a doctored waybill and then drove away with 6,600 gold bars worth $20 million and the equivalent of $4 million in foreign cash.
Two Air 91原创 employees and a 91原创 jewelry store owner are among those charged, police announced last week 鈥 the first major development in the previously unsolved heist.
Only $90,000 worth of the stolen gold 鈥 shaped into 鈥渟ix crudely-made gold bracelets鈥 鈥 has been recovered. Peel Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said last week that 鈥渢his investigation isn鈥檛 done.鈥
鈥淩egarding the remaining gold, our opinion is that it likely has left the country,鈥 Peel Police said in a statement shared with the Star on Tuesday. 鈥淚t is difficult to trace the gold in other markets without additional information.鈥
Experts told the Star last week that the gold bars likely had serial numbers but once melted, any identification is gone forever.
鈥淭he chances of recovering it are virtually nil,鈥 said Donna Hawrelko, president of the Canadian Gemmological Association.
And because the industry works on cash, trying to trace the gold may be difficult, said Anna Sergi, a criminology professor at the University of Essex in England.
Police believe the money from the gold heist was likely used to purchase illegal firearms. In September, a driver from Brampton was pulled over in Pennsylvania with 65 firearms in a rented vehicle, and police believe those weapons were intended for sale on the black market in 91原创.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation