ED raids Simran Preet Panesar’s house, accused in Canada’s largest gold heist

ED raids Punjab home of suspect Simran Preet Panesar in Canada’s gold theft

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided the residence of Simran Preet Panesar, a 32-year-old former Air Canada manager, wanted across Canada for his alleged involvement in the April 2023 gold robbery at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

An ED team arrived at Panesar’s home in Sector 79, Mohali, Punjab, on Friday morning.

“Our teams are in the process of questioning him,” said a senior ED officer.

According to reports, Panesar had been residing on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

The ED, responsible for probing financial crimes in India, has launched a money laundering investigation into the case, marking a rare instance of the agency probing a crime beyond India’s borders. Officials stated that the investigation aims to determine whether the stolen gold or its proceeds were routed to India.

Toronto Pearson gold heist: Largest in Canada’s history

On April 17, 2023, a group used fake paperwork to steal an air cargo container holding gold bars from a secure storage facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Stolen Cargo

• Gold: 6,600 bars of .9999 pure gold weighing 400 kg, valued at over 20 million CAD.
• Foreign currency: Worth 2.5 million CAD.
• The gold and currency had arrived on an Air Canada flight from Zurich, Switzerland, destined for a bank in Toronto.

Sequence of events

• After the flight landed, the cargo was offloaded and moved to a secure location within the airport premises.
• A day later, the cargo was reported ‘missing’ to the police.

The Peel Regional Police (PRP) described the theft as the largest gold heist in Canadian history. In April 2024, PRP charged nine individuals, including Simran Preet Panesar, and issued an arrest warrant against him.

Panesar and another accused, Parampal Sidhu, both residents of Brampton, Canada, worked at Toronto Pearson’s warehouse facility.

Canadian authorities have yet to recover the stolen gold. So far, only 90,000 CAD of the stolen cargo has been recovered by the PRP.

The investigation is ongoing as both Canadian and Indian agencies collaborate to track down the remaining assets and those responsible for the heist.

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