Brink’s security company has filed a lawsuit against Air Canada accusing the airline of “negligence and carelessness” after a shipment of gold was stolen from a Toronto-based airport earlier this year, according to Bloomberg, amid an ongoing investigation into the incident.
Air Canada allegedly failed to mark the shipment of nearly 900 pounds of gold as “valuable cargo” ... [+]
Brink’s alleges Air Canada failed to mark a shipment containing 882 pounds of gold bars—valued at an estimated $15.1 million—and $1.9 million in banknotes as “valuable cargo” while it was being held at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, according to Bloomberg.
The suit—filed on October 6 in Canada’s Federal Court—also claims Air Canada failed to provide enough security and protection for the shipment before it was stolen from a warehouse at the airport.
The shipment arrived at around 5:50 p.m. local time on April 17, 40 minutes before an “unidentified individual” arrived with fraudulent documents to pick the shipment up as “no security protocols or features were in place to monitor, restrict or otherwise regulate” access to the warehouse, the suit claims.
The shipment has not been recovered and there have not been any arrests in connection with the heist, according to Brink’s, which is requesting to be reimbursed $15.1 million for the missing gold and $1.9 million for the banknotes in addition to additional, unspecified costs.
Aruna Aundhia, spokesperson for Peel Regional Police, told Bloomberg that information about the incident will be released when “investigators believe it will not interfere with the investigation’s integrity.”
Air Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
Peel Regional Police announced on April 20 that it was investigating the theft of a “high-value container” of gold and “other items of monetary value” at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. A spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority told the Toronto Star that thieves accessed the side of a warehouse “outside of our primary security line.” Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn—who said the incident was “very rare”—offered few details about how the container could have disappeared, only suggesting it was taken by “illegal means.”
Rob McEwan, chair and CEO of the Toronto-based firm McEwan Mining, suggested the shipment could have been stolen by Mexican cartels. His claim follows a report by the company indicating a unit of eight men stole $8.5 million worth of gold from a company-owned mine in Sinaloa, Mexico.
A gold heist was previously carried out at Pearson International Airport—then named the Malton Airport—in 1952, when an estimated $2.5 million in gold bars was stolen from the airport, according to the Toronto Star. Brink’s delivered 10 boxes of gold to the airport before the boxes were loaded onto a flight to Montreal, though only four boxes were aboard the plane on arrival.
Brink’s Sues Air Canada After $17 Million Heist Of Gold And Cash (Bloomberg)
$14.8 Million In Gold And Valuables Vanishes From Toronto’s Airport (New York Times)