BRAMPTON, ONTARIO, OCT 15: In dramatic court testimony, a primary planner behind Canada’s largest gold heist took the stand at the Ontario Superior Court, confessing to his role in the high-stakes $22 million robbery at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Arsalan Chaudhary, who previously pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 and was sentenced to four years in prison, testified as a Crown witness in the trial of former Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu. Sidhu faces charges of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy for allegedly providing fraudulent airway bills that facilitated the April 2023 cargo bay theft.
Chaudhary revealed details of the robbery, admitting he helped plan the heist and retained a 30 percent share of the 6,600 stolen gold bars—weighing over 400 kilograms—before escaping through Mexico, Portugal, and Pakistan. However, courtroom proceedings took an unexpected turn when Chaudhary struggled to continue his testimony. He attributed severe memory lapses and emotional distress to post-traumatic stress following an alleged abduction and physical abuse in Pakistan by men dressed in police uniforms who forced him to surrender his remaining loot.
Prosecutors contend that the sophisticated operation relied on inside cooperation at the airport, allowing co-conspirators to drive off with gold and foreign currency valued at over $22 million. While Chaudhary has already begun serving his prison sentence and received court orders to pay back restitution, the ongoing trial continues to expose crucial details of the multi-million-dollar heist that shocked international aviation security.
To learn more about the witness testimony in the Pearson Airport gold heist trial, watch Pearson Gold Heist Testimony. This coverage details key confessions and courtroom developments during the ongoing trial. (Courtesy CBC News)
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