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by IANS |
Chandigarh, Feb 21 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate on Friday searched residential premises in Chandigarh and Mohali in Punjab of an alleged suspect in Canada's biggest-ever gold heist of more than $20 million in 2023 on fake documents, officials said.
The suspect, Simran Preet Panesar, a former warehouse facility manager with Air Canada, has been staying in Chandigarh's Sector 38 and Sector 79 of Mohali, near here.
He has been facing a Canada-wide warrant for his alleged role in the robbery at the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
The raids were conducted simultaneously on both residences of Panesar.
According to media reports, an air cargo container with gold bars was stolen from a storage facility at the airport.
India's prime central agency that probes financial crimes, the ED, has launched the money-laundering probe as the accused resides in the country.
The reason, as per sources, is to investigate if the gold or its proceeds made their way to the country.
On April 17, 2023, fake paperwork was used for the heist.
Canada's Peel Regional Police (PRP), which said it was the biggest gold heist in Canada ever, charged 10, including Panesar, in April 2024, and issued an arrest warrant against him. Panesar and another accused, Parampal Sidhu, lived in Brampton and worked at Pearson's warehouse facility.
Canadian authorities are yet to recover the gold. From the stolen cargo, only 90,000 CAD is learnt to have been recovered by the police.
The Peel police in November last year issued a bench warrant for the arrest of one of the suspects charged in connection with the heist.
Prasath Paramalingam, 35, was arrested for allegedly assisting Durante King-McLean, the suspect accused of driving off with nearly $20 million in stolen gold bars.
The police said 6,600 gold bars were stolen from Air Canada's cargo facility on April 17, 2023 by a suspect who arrived at the warehouse in a five-tonne delivery truck. The gold, along with about $2.5 million in foreign currency, had been shipped to Toronto from Zurich in an Air Canada plane.
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