Key Suspect Arrested in Canada's Largest Gold Heist

Canadian authorities have arrested a key suspect in the country's largest gold heist, detaining the man at Toronto Pearson International Airport shortly after his arrival from Dubai. Arsalan Chaudhary, 43 and of no fixed address, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with theft over $5,000, two counts of possession of property obtained by crime, and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. The arrest marks a significant development in the ongoing investigation into the April 17, 2023, theft of nearly 400 kilograms of pure gold and 2.5 million in foreign currency from the same airport.

The heist targeted a cargo shipment arriving on an Air Canada flight from Zurich, Switzerland. The consignment, consisting of approximately 6,600 bars of .9999 fine gold valued at more than 20 million Canadian dollars at the time, along with the cash, was unloaded and moved to an Air Canada cargo facility on airport grounds. Within hours, the shipment vanished after being fraudulently collected by a truck driver using an outdated waybill. Investigators believe the perpetrators exploited insider knowledge of airline procedures to divert the cargo, which was intended for delivery by...