BURST
A mastermind behind the spectacular Toronto airport gold heist lost his share of the loot after fleeing to Pakistan, where he said he was kidnapped by police, blindfolded and tortured until he told them where he hid his gold and cash.
“I did everything for nothing,” Arsalan Chaudhary, 43, of Mississauga, Ont., testified Tuesday as a reluctant witness in court in Brampton, Ont.
Chaudhary said he was the man behind the gold heist, along with an inside man who worked with Air Canada, but after they split the stolen gold and cash, worth more than $22 million, he left Canada for Pakistan, where he was grabbed by men in police uniforms.
While he was in captivity and suffering torture and threatened with death, he was connected by FaceTime video calls to his kidnappers’ colleagues in Canada; he told them where to go to get his stash of gold hidden in a Toronto-area condo, and then to his family’s home to collect his cash.
“Before they could do anything further, I pretty much told them, ‘I’ll give you everything. You don’t need to do anything. You have me. My life is worth more than any money.’ They had their people go where the gold was, and they got the cash and the gold, everything.”
Once they had his loot, a hood was pulled over his head and he was driven from the small room where he had been held. When the car stopped, he said he was told to stay down and count to 30 before looking up or they would shoot him. He waited and then got up and walked to a family member’s home in Pakistan.
Chaudhary was asked by Crown prosecutor Jelena Vlacic how he felt at that point.
“I was just thankful to be alive,” he said, “and I wanted to get the F out of Pakistan ASAP.
“All of this was not even worth it. I destroyed people’s lives. I did everything for nothing.”
Chaudhary is the star witness at the trial for an alleged co-accused in the gold heist, Parmpal Sidhu, a former Air Canada employee in the cargo warehouse where the crate of gold and cash was stolen in 2023 shortly after arriving on a flight from Switzerland.
Although the trial is for Sidhu, who has pleaded not guilty to theft over $5,000 and conspiracy, Chaudhary said the Air Canada employee who was the key inside man at the cargo warehouse — who he planned the heist with — was Simran Preet Panesar, who is a wanted fugitive in the case, and believed to be living in India.
“I planned it,” Chaudhary said. “I pretty much planned the whole thing, with Mr. Panesar.”
Chaudhary said he and Panesar had worked on the heist for months before it came together. Their relationship was not a personal one.
“Strictly business,” Chaudhary said when asked to describe their connection. “Like, we were just talking about doing the heist.”
Chaudhary made it sound like they were a perfect match if you wanted to boost gold from airport. They each had a particular set of skills.
Panesar knew how the Air Canada cargo system worked and Chaudhary knew everything else.
“Mr. Panesar had a great idea,” Chaudhary testified. “I didn’t know nothing about how the inside worked. That was Mr. Panesar’s job to take care of that, and it was my job to take care of the outside, once it was put on the truck.
“He knew how to get the gold out, and I told them I’ll take care of the rest.
“They trusted me, and I had certain people that I knew who I could talk to and get the job done,” he said. “People call me for certain things because I could do certain things. People trusted me because I’m loyal.”
The pair were hooked up by a mutual friend, he said, but then seemed to regret saying that. He immediately couldn’t remember who the friend was, as if to prove he still had loyalty.
Chaudhary said he agreed to the job because he needed money.
“It was COVID. I was out of a job, kind of struggling. This topic came up. We started talking about it. I didn’t take it seriously in the beginning, but eventually, it got serious.”
Their plan worked ridiculously well.
Court heard earlier how insiders at the Air Canada cargo facility used the log-in credentials of Air Canada managers to change the coding on a high-value shipment of gold and cash while the crate was still in the air, en route to Toronto from Zurich on an Air Canada jet.
The change meant the automatic sorting of arriving cargo didn’t send the crate to a secure area that was locked and guarded, but into an area for general cargo. From there, an altered air waybill that was created inside the facility directed the crate of gold to be delivered to a truck that Chaudhary had arranged.
Once the crate of gold and money was loaded in the truck, Chaudhary said he followed behind the truck as it was driven to a farm up north; he couldn’t remember where, he said.
“I was behind the truck. Once we got somewhere up north, wherever it was, I cleared out the truck, and I took mine, went my way, and Mr. Panesar went his way.”
He said his share was 30 per cent of the gold. They didn’t count out the myriad of one-ounce bars, he called biscuits, they just divided the boxes that they were transported in. Each bar had a TD logo molded into it.
There were four men at the “north farm area,” he said: Chaudhary, Panesar, the driver, and someone he called Kiwi, but whose real name he said he couldn’t remember.
Asked why Panesar got to take 70 per cent of it, he said: “I don’t know. That’s the deal we made.” Did Panesar need to share his cut with others, he was asked. “That’s not my business,” he answered.
He said he was not testifying willingly. He is only there after being served a subpoena by the Crown. He pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 in March and in April was sentenced to four years imprisonment
Chaudhary remains in custody at Maplehurst Correctional Complex, and was escorted into court by an officer. He walked with casual confidence, almost a swagger.
His testimony was jagged, peppered frequently with him saying he didn’t recall key elements, such as most names and places, times and dates. He said he had post-traumatic stress disorder from his ordeal.
Chaudhary’s testimony continues, and Sidhu’s trial is scheduled for several more days.
More to come.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.