‘Crucial to this… top of the food chain’: What probe report says on Simran Preet Panesar, accused in Canada’s biggest gold heist
An accused in a Canada gold heist worth $22.5 million, Simran Preet Panesar, the subject of an ED raid today, was ‘visibly ill, sweating’ when police first contacted him, documents reveal.
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A team of ED officials landed at Panesar’s residence in Mohali’s Sector 79 Friday morning and began questioning him. (Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)Simran Preet Panesar, the 32-year-old whose Mohali residence is being searched by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday, is one of the nine suspects allegedly involved in Canada’s biggest gold heist, worth $22.5 million.
After a month-long investigation, The Indian Express in collaboration with CBC News: The Fifth Estate, Canada, was the first to track down Panesar, who was living on the outskirts of Chandigarh, earlier this month.
A day after the heist, as per the investigation documents, Panesar allegedly texted one of his colleagues: “I think, I’ll be going to India for days off just to get away few days.”
A former Air Canada acting supervisor in operations control, Panesar is facing a Canada-wide warrant for his alleged role in the April 2023 gold heist that saw 6,600 gold bars weighing 400 kg of pure gold and about $2.5 million worth of foreign currency being stolen from Pearson International Airport’s cargo compound, shortly after it arrived on a flight from Zurich.
Investigating officers in Canada believe only Panesar “had the necessary access to search the incoming high value shipments”.
“An Air Canada employee, who searched for and identified the incoming shipment. He also manipulated the Air Canada Cargo system, to facilitate the physical remove of the container,” a Peel Regional Police’s investigation report into the heist says on Panesar. “He was integral. You need him. He is crucial to this, absolutely crucial. He is the top of the food chain,” Canadian investigating officers mentioned in their report.
A day after the heist, as per the investigation documents, Panesar allegedly texted one of his colleagues: “I think, I’ll be going to India for days off just to get away few days.”
Investigating officers in Canada believe only Panesar “had the necessary access to search the incoming high value shipments”.
Soon after the heist came to light, officials from Peel Regional Police reached the airport’s cargo terminal. At the time, it was allegedly Panesar who gave them “a tour of the entire area”. Investigating officials reportedly suspected his behaviour then. As per the investigation documents, “When he was giving the tour, [the officer] noted that [Panesar] was visibly almost ill, sweating or something like that”. The investigating officers, at that time, “thought it was strange”.
The investigating officials analysed the computers at Air Canada’s cargo facility after the heist and allegedly found that “Panesar had searched the system for the incoming flight containing the gold and tracked its movement”. Once the plane landed, “he began tracking the container holding the gold”.
“He also manipulated the Air Canada Cargo system, to facilitate the physical removal of the container,” the investigation documents reveal. “Once the theft was complete, he stopped searching altogether,” the documents add.
Investigating officials in Canada allegedly also found that Panesar was part of a chat group with two other suspects, including Arsalan Chaudhary, who is referred to as ‘Top Dog’ in the chat group. The chat group exchanged 772 calls or messages.
Panesar allegedly also received a text message from another suspect. “Hey, gotta… call from my cuz… said he heard about a [Brinks] heist at cargo last night… lol,” the message read, as per the investigation documents. Panesar allegedly replied: “No nothing like that happened.”
Panesar left Canada approximately three months after the heist.
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