ED raids house of Simran Preet Panesar, accused in Canada’s ‘biggest’ gold heist

On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a raid and interrogated Simran Preet Panesar, a 32-year-old former Air Canada manager, who is wanted across Canada for his suspected involvement in the gold heist that took place in April 2023 at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

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ED Raids Simran Preet Panesar’s Mohali Residence for Questioning

An ED team arrived at Simran Preet Panesar’s residence at Sector 79 in Punjab’s Mohali on Friday morning. “Our teams are in the process of questioning him,” a senior ED officer said. The Indian Express earlier reported about Panesar living on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

The ED, the central agency which probes financial crimes, has, in a rare instance of investigating a crime beyond India’s territorial boundaries, has launched a money-laundering probe into the case as the accused is now in India. The idea, officers aware of the matter said, is to investigate if the gold or its proceeds made their way to the country.

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Toronto Airport Heist: 400 kg Gold, CAD 22.5M Stolen

On April 17, 2023, thieves used fake paperwork to steal an air cargo container filled with gold bars from a secure storage facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The cargo included 6,600 bars of .9999 pure gold weighing 400 kg, valued at over 20 million Canadian Dollars (CAD), along with foreign currency worth 2.5 million CAD.

The Peel Regional Police (PRP), which described the theft as the ‘biggest gold heist in Canada ever,’ charged nine, including Simran Preet Panesar, in April 2024, and issued an arrest warrant against him. Panesar and another accused, Parampal Sidhu, lived in Brampton, and worked at Toronto Pearson’s warehouse facility.

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