New Delhi: Canadian authorities have contacted their Indian counterparts with a request for the extradition of Simran Preet Panesar in connection with the 2023 heist in which gold bars worth more than $20 million were stolen at a Toronto airport.
A former Air Canada manager and currently based in Punjab’s Mohali, Panesar faces an arrest warrant for his alleged involvement in what is widely reported as Canada’s biggest gold heist. The 33-year-old has also faced raids by the Enforcement Directorate for money laundering, ThePrint has learnt.
The Peel Regional Police made these revelations in a statement after arresting one of the nine suspects, Arsalan Chaudhary, in the case. Chaudhary was arrested Monday at Pearson Airport when he flew in from Dubai.
“Simran Preet Panesar (is) a 33-year-old man from Brampton. A Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Panesar, a former Air Canada employee, who is believed to be in India. An extradition request has been submitted, and he is wanted on charges of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence,” a Peel Regional Police spokesperson said in the statement.
The daring heist took place on 17 April, 2023 at Pearson Airport when a consignment containing 6,600 gold bars that arrived in a container on an Air Canada flight from Switzerland was swindled off with the assistance of Durante King-McLean, the alleged driver of the getaway truck.
A year later, the US Justice Department charged King-McLean along with Prasath Paramalingam and Archit Grover in an unrelated firearms trafficking case. King-Mclean has recently pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking-related charges in the US and is expected to be sentenced later this year, the Peel Regional Police spokesperson said in a statement.
Working then as a manager at Air Canada, Panesar was accused of orchestrating a plot with at least eight other suspects, predominantly from Brampton. The Peel Regional Police had arrested six accused, including Grover, Parmpal Sidhu, and Amit Jalota.
Earlier last year, the ED raided Panesar’s residence in Mohali and two other locations and obtained a lookout circular issued against him. It had opened an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) based on the assessment of the two cases in Canada and the US.
The scrutiny of mobile phones seized during the raids allegedly led investigators to a hawala operator in Chandigarh. The subsequent recovery of diaries revealed the extent of money allegedly received by Panesar through hawala channels.
Sources in the ED said that evidence suggests Panesar received nearly Rs 8.5 crore from the Pearson airport gold heist, nearly all of which was allegedly spent on producing a movie for his wife.
“Several entries have been made in the hawala diaries showing payment amounting to Rs 8.5 crore between November 2023 and February this year, strongly suggesting that funds were transferred starting a few months after the gold heist and till the time money laundering investigation started,” an ED officer told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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