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The details of the largest theft in Canadian history are that of a plane flying from Zurich to Toronto. That plane was very special. Because, there were no passengers in this plane, but there was 400 kg of gold. After the plane landed in Toronto, the container filled with gold was kept in the cargo warehouse at the airport itself. And the biggest robbery in Canadian history took place there. After this the police started their biggest operation till date. Which was called 'Project 24 Carat'.
April 17, 2023, 5:56 pm
An Air Canada cargo plane is landing at Toronto Airport in Canada after taking off from Zurich, the capital of Switzerland. The plane was loaded with 6,600 gold bars and $1.9 million in currency from a Swiss metal refining company, to be delivered to the Vancouver Bullion and Currency Exchange. The weight of 6 thousand 600 gold bricks i.e. gold bricks is 900 pounds i.e. about 400 kg and their value in the open market is estimated to be about 20 million Canadian dollars i.e. about Rs 122 crore. If Canadian dollar currency is also added to this, then the entire consignment comes to about Rs 132 crore. Obviously, these items loaded in this Air Canada plane are very valuable and their care and safety was equally important.
April 17, 2023, 6:32 pm
A white box truck arrives at the same Air Canada warehouse that holds the precious cargo offloaded from that Air Canada cargo plane. The truck driver has an air-way bill, detailing the shipment from Zurich. He gives his bill to the people in the warehouse and says that the shipment from Zurich is full of the best seafood in the world, the best Atlantic Solomon fish, that he has to deliver. The employees present in the warehouse have no information about the goods present inside the shipment. They match the remaining documents with the air-way bill held by the driver and hand over the shipment from Zurich to the driver. That is, the consignment of gold bars and currency coming from Zurich is loaded into a truck with a white box in the shape of a fish. And the next moment the truck leaves the warehouse and after crossing all the checkpoints, it gets lost in the outside world.
17th April 2023, 9:30 pm
The real twist in the story comes when an armored truck from a company called Brink's Security arrives at the same Air Canada warehouse to pick up a shipment from Zurich. It is also natural that armored trucks reach the warehouse, because those shipments coming from Zurich are very valuable. That shipment, loaded with gold bars and currency, would be taken in complete security to the Vancouver Bullion and Currency Exchange. But all the employees present in the Air Canada warehouse got a big shock because they did not find this shipment in the warehouse. Not a passing fad. The matter is of loss of gold and currency worth Rs 132 crore.
The world's sixth biggest theft
So within no time there is an earthquake from the warehouse to the offices of Air Canada. For some time, the officers and employees working in the warehouse did not understand how this happened. But then they soon realize that the driver of the white box truck has actually played a trick on them that will prove to be very costly. About three hours ago, a consignment that had arrived from Zurich pretending to be seafood was snatched from them. And for this he has used fake documents. That is, this is a case of such a big theft that even the richest man in the world will have difficulty in repaying it. Even the richest businessmen or companies can suffer. Doing the math, it turns out that this case is the biggest theft ever committed in Canada and the sixth biggest theft in the world.
April 18, 2023, 2:43 pm
Peel Police, Canada was immediately informed about this major theft. And with this the Canadian police starts investigating the case. After the initial investigation, the police launched an operation called Project 24 Carat to find the white box truck and arrest the thieves. And police investigation starts with CCTV cameras. After coming out of the airport warehouse, the police starts scanning the CCTV cameras of all the roads ahead. But this work is not easy. Because there are no high-focus CCTV cameras on the highway. And even in the houses or shops along the highway where CCTV cameras are installed, the same white truck can be seen.
Truck disappears from camera view at intersection
Despite all the difficulties, the police investigation is continuing. Especially where the highway meets other roads i.e. there are intersections, the work of the police becomes even more difficult, because at every such intersection the police has to see that the truck leaves the highway and goes somewhere else. He disappeared on the way. And finally what was feared happened. After CCTV followed the white box truck for about 20 miles, the truck disappeared from camera view at an intersection.
An Indian accused of theft
But this is only one aspect of the investigation. Upon investigating other issues, Canadian police discovered the involvement of a former Air Canada manager of Indian origin, who had led his officers inside the warehouse after the theft. Police found that soon after the theft in April, he resigned from his job and returned to India via Dubai. She has been identified as 31-year-old Simranpreet Panesar. Gradually the police start getting information about other characters involved in this theft.
September 2, 2023, Pennsylvania
But the real success in this case came after about 5 months i.e. on 2 September 2023, when the police in Pennsylvania, USA, stopped a 25-year-old youth for questioning in a case of minor traffic rule violation. But after questioning the truck driver who was stopped near Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and searching his vehicle, police were shocked to find 65 different types of guns in his rental car. Not only this, the police also recovered two fully automatic handguns, which were converted into machine guns. Naturally, it was a sensational case of arms smuggling, which coincided with breaking of traffic rules.
The main accused is linked to arms smuggling racket
The police found that the man was actually involved in an arms smuggling racket between the US and Canada. But, when the American and Canadian police came to know the real identity of the 25-year-old youth, they were shocked. Because this person was none other than the driver of the white box truck carrying gold bricks and Canadian dollars worth Rs 132 crore from the Air Canada warehouse, who was arrested by the Canadian and American police immediately after the incident i.e. in April 2023. . In fact, when the American police checked his record in their criminal database, his identity became clear.
A truck driver's fingerprint becomes a big clue
On the other hand, when the driver came to Canada with a box truck to carry out Canada's biggest robbery, he accidentally removed a hand glove while handing over the air-way bill to the warehouse staff, which caused his name to be printed on the warehouse documents. The fingerprints were destroyed. And now after his arrest in the US, his fingerprints easily matched those found in Canadian police warehouse documents.
Name of the criminal thief- Durante King McClain
According to the police, the 25-year-old youth has been identified as Durante King McLane, a resident of Brampton, Canada. After committing this crime, he was constantly changing his location. And with this stolen money he was also successful in smuggling weapons. He had to smuggle these weapons from America to Canada. According to the police, along with the theft in the warehouse, an Indian origin man named Prasad Paramalingam was also involved in the arms smuggling game with Durante King McClain, who has been arrested by the police in the theft case. Also named in arms smuggling.
6 people were arrested
In case of any crime, it usually takes some time for the police to get clues, after which the case gets opened automatically. At present the status of investigation in this case also remains the same. Police have so far arrested a total of six people in this connection, out of which five have been arrested from Canada. The most important link of this case to America is that the driver of that white box truck has been caught by the American police.
Collusion among Air Canada employees
A sad aspect of the story is that out of the six people arrested, two are of Indian origin. In which 54 year old Parman Sidhu is included while 40 year old Amit Jalota is included. Parampal Sidhu is a former employee of Air Canada, while Amit Jalota is his acquaintance. Obviously, insiders have a big role in this sixth biggest robbery of the world. According to the officials investigating the case, it was impossible to carry out such a major crime without the connivance of Air Canada employees. The rest arrested include jewelery store owner Ali Raza, his partner Ahmed Chaudhary and another 35-year-old man of Indian origin, Prasad Paramalingam.
The accused had melted most of the gold
Now let's talk about the stolen 6 thousand 600 gold biscuits. According to police, most of the gold bricks stolen from the Air Canada warehouse about a year ago have been melted by thieves so that they can be sold in the market. In fact, all the gold bricks shipped from Zurich had serial numbers printed on them, making them impossible to sell on the open market. In such a situation, the thieves used their brain and started melting the bricks. At present, the police have found nothing much but only 6 bangles made of melted gold bricks, whose value is said to be around 89 thousand Canadian dollars i.e. 53 lakh rupees. Apart from this, the police also came to know about a jeweler and his jewelery shop, where the work of melting these bricks was done. Police have also seized some tools used in this work.
Use of gold in jewelery
According to the police, the jewel thief wanted to hide his identity as well as the identity of the gold, because he feared that if the identity of the gold was revealed, it would pave the way for his arrest. So he melted the gold. It is possible that the melted gold may have been used in wedding rings, investment coins, pieces of art, gold teeth, cell phones, and other electronic items. Or it is also possible that the gold has been melted and given the shape of bricks, so that their identification is not possible.
6 out of 9 accused were arrested
At present, the police have made a total of nine people accused in this case and 6 out of the nine have been arrested. But it is also true that despite this success, the police has not been able to recover most of the looted gold and currency.
The thought of theft came after watching the famous web series 'Money Heist'
Another interesting thing has come to light after interrogating some of the accused. And carrying out this big theft is a matter to think about. According to the police, the accused have confessed that they had committed the theft while watching the popular Netflix series Money Heist. That means these thieves had stolen the idea of committing this crime by watching this series.