Key organizer of Toronto airport gold heist testifies for 2nd day at trial of former Air Canada employee

What a key organizer of the $22M Pearson gold heist had to say in court

October 13|

Duration

4:12

Arsalan Chaudhary, currently serving a four-year sentence for his role in the $22-million Toronto Pearson airport heist, testified Tuesday in the trial of a former Air Canada employee. Parmpal Sidhu, the former employee, is accused of altering cargo documents to enable the massive theft of gold and cash.

Arsalan Chaudhary, the self-described leader of the 2023 Pearson airport gold heist, will continue his testimony today at the trial of Parmpal Sidhu in a Brampton, Ont., court. 

Sidhu, who was an Air Canada cargo warehouse employee at the time of the heist, pleaded not guilty to charges of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence earlier this month. 

Crown prosecutors accuse him of helping doctor a waybill that cleared workers to empty the contents of a plane from Zurich carrying $20 million worth of gold and $2.5 million in foreign currency. 

It's unclear where all that gold and money went, though investigators say much of it appears to have been melted in local jewelry stores and sold on the black market and overseas. 

Yesterday, Chaudhary said he'd lost his share to kidnappers in Pakistan and had since lost contact with another suspected organizer, Simran Preet Panesar, who is believed to still be in India. 

Prosecutor Jelena Vlacic questioned Chaudhary for several hours, focusing on text and group chat messages related to the heist that he said he did not remember or recall.

Chaudhary told the court he took a third of the gold from the heist and stashed it in a condo in the Greater Toronto Area. He melted it for sale, acquiring $200,000 to $300,000 in cash. 

He made his way to Pakistan, where he said he was abducted and forced to give up his loot.

Chaudhary was sentenced this spring to four years in prison after pleading guilty to theft over $5,000, and was given 40 years to pay back $22 million in restitution.