Canadian ‘largest gold heist’: security and logistics lessons for mine projects
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Police have arrested 43-year-old Arsalan Chaudhary at Toronto Pearson after a flight from Dubai, charging him with theft over C$5,000, possession of property obtained by crime and conspiracy in connection with the April 2023 gold heist. The theft involved about 880 lb of gold – roughly 6,600 bars worth over C$20 million – plus C$2.5 million in cash that vanished after transfer within Pearson, Canada’s busiest airport. Project 24K investigators, including Canada’s national police and the ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division, have now laid more than 21 charges, including against two Air Canada employees.
Technical Brief
- Gold and cash shipment was offloaded from a Zurich–Toronto flight before disappearing during intra-airport transfer.
- Total loss was about C$22.5 million in bullion and currency, per subsequent police valuation.
- Two Air Canada employees are alleged to have had “key roles”, indicating insider-risk vulnerabilities in handling protocols.
- Investigation is being run as “Project 24K”, involving more than 21 criminal charges to date.
- Canada’s national police are coordinating with the ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division, reflecting cross-border tracing of stolen metal.
- Suspect described as “of no fixed address” raises challenges for background checks and contractor vetting in logistics chains.
- For bullion logistics at major hubs, case underlines need for auditable custody transfers between aircraft, secure storage and ground handlers.
Our Take
With C$22.5 million in gold and cash stolen from Toronto Pearson, this incident sits at the extreme end of the safety-tagged cases in our mining database, which more commonly involve on-site thefts or fraud at individual gold operations rather than transit hubs.
For Ontario gold producers such as West Red Lake Gold Mines’ Madsen mine, also covered in our recent reporting, high-profile logistics failures at Pearson are likely to translate into tighter and more expensive secure-transport and insurance requirements for doré and bullion shipments.
The cross-border dimension involving Canada and the United States, plus onward links to hubs like Zurich and Dubai, underscores that gold theft risk management now has to be treated as a multi-jurisdictional supply-chain issue, not just a mine-site or refinery security problem.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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