Arsalan Choudhary pleaded guilty to Canada’s largest gold heist that occurred in 2023 at Toronto Pearson Airport.
In 2023, Toronto Pearson Airport witnessed the country’s largest gold theft, with Arsalan Chaudhry orchestrating the theft of 6,600 gold bars worth $22.5 million along with millions in foreign currency.
Two (now former) Air Canada employees were also part of it as the shipment arrived at an Air Canada warehouse and was delivered to the wrong person who showed fake invoices. Three years later, Chaudhry, who was arrested in January, admitted to the robbery in court on Monday, the Toronto Star reported, detailing what happened in court. A handwritten ‘debt list’ was found from Chaudhary where he had noted down who would receive the amount from the proceeds of the gold theft.
Gold was melted down and the proceeds went to designated persons. Crown attorney Jelena Vlasic detailed the list of money police found in Choudhury’s apartment, a $10.3 million ledger he drafted to track the distribution of profits from molten gold.
- An anonymous group received $5 million
- A million dollars to the “President”
- $200,000 for Tommy.
- $150,000 for the “driver”
- $80,000 for the boat.
- 250 thousand dollars for the apartment
- “40 thousand” to “parents”.
Chaudhry was arrested at Pearson Airport last January after arriving from Dubai under an arrangement reached through his lawyer. The gold was melted down and sold in the basement of a Mississauga jewelry store weeks after the theft.
Police said they recovered only about $90,000 in gold.After the robbery, the getaway driver, Durante King McLean, fled to the US and stayed at an Airbnb booked in the name of Choudhury’s brother, the court heard. Chaudhry said that he arranged for the driver to escape, but his brother knew nothing about it. In September 2023, King McLean was arrested after a traffic stop near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Police confiscated 65 handguns destined for Canada and two mobile phones.
