Who’s Simran Preet Panesar, accused in Canada’s greatest gold heist? Why has ED raided his Punjab home?

On Friday morning (February 21), India woke as much as the information of an Enforcement Directorate raid on a residence on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Nonetheless, this raid is not any extraordinary one; it has a connection to Canada — particularly the largest gold heist within the Western nation.

That’s as a result of authorities swooped in on the residence of 32-year-old Simran Preet Panesar, who is needed by the Canadian authorities for his alleged position within the gold heist of over C$20 million (Rs 122 crore). The truth is, the ED raids come simply days after the Indian Specific, together with CBC Information: The Fifth Property, reported that Panesar was dwelling on the outskirts of Chandigarh, evading Canadian authorities.

Because the investigations proceed, we take a more in-depth take a look at who precisely is Simran Preet Panesar and the way he’s linked to Canada’s greatest gold heist.

ED raids at Panesar residence

On Friday morning, ED officers landed at Panesar’s residence in Mohali’s Sector 79 and started questioning him. Confirming the identical, an ED official advised Indian Specific, “Our groups have reached his (Preet Panesar’s) residence and are within the technique of questioning him.”

The motion comes because the ED registered a case in opposition to Panesar utilizing Sector 2 (1) (ra) of the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA). This laws offers with circumstances of “cross-border implications” and mentions — “Any conduct by an individual at a spot outdoors India which constitutes an offence at that place and which might have constituted an offence laid out in Half A, Half B or Half C of the Schedule, had it been dedicated in India and if such particular person [transfers in any manner] the proceeds of such conduct or half thereof to India”.

Because the Hindustan Occasions reported, the concept behind the raids is to determine if the gold stolen in the course of the Canadian heist or its proceeds made their option to the nation.

Panesar dwelling a quiet life in India

Notably, the raids come simply days after an Indian Specific investigation revealed that Panesar was dwelling in Mohali in a rented condominium along with his household, together with his spouse Preety Panesar, a former Miss India Uganda, a singer and an actor.

The newspaper’s investigation discovered that Panesar is main a standard life, serving to his spouse’s and household’s enterprise affairs.

One in all Panesar’s neighbours advised Indian Specific that that they had realized that the 32-year-old “was concerned in some financial dispute in Canada, however had been advised that it was over”.

Panesar and Canada’s greatest gold theft

Panesar first made headlines following the April 17, 2023
gold heist at Toronto Pearson Airport. The good gold theft was made doable by a fraudulent transport doc for a load of farm-raised Scottish salmon. This was used to openly snatch C$20 million (Rs 122 crore) price of gold and money in international foreign money, main investigators and media to dub it Canada’s greatest gold heist.

Investigations revealed that the stolen items together with, 6,600 bars of .9999 pure gold weighing 400 kg and international foreign money price C$2.5 million, had come to the Toronto-Pearson Airport on an Air Canada flight from Zurich, Switzerland, in Toronto, and had been destined for a financial institution in Canada’s largest metropolis.

Nonetheless, after the flight landed, the cargo was offloaded onto a hulking white field truck and left the location, solely to be reported ‘lacking’ the following day.

Days later, the Peel Police charged 9 folks for the crime, together with Simran Preet Panesar. On the time of the heist, Panesar, based on the police, a resident of Brampton was an Air Canada worker. The truth is, based on a CBC report, he was assigned as the purpose of contact for the police. If authorities had a query about Air Canada’s warehouse operation, he was the one they had been supposed to speak to.

Because the investigations proceeded, they discovered that Panesar was the one one who had “the mandatory entry to go looking incoming high-value shipments.” Furthermore, the probe discovered that Panesar had searched the system for the incoming flight containing the gold and tracked its motion. As soon as the aircraft landed, authorities say he started monitoring the container holding the gold.

“He additionally manipulated the Air Canada Cargo system, to facilitate the bodily removing of the container,” reads a Crown doc, which provides, “As soon as the theft was full, he stopped looking altogether.”

What made the police much more suspicious of Panesar was the truth that he stop his job at Air Canada inside months of the crime and disappeared. Nonetheless, in June 2024, the Peel Regional Police introduced that Panesar had agreed to give up. On the time, Panesar’s lawyer, Greg Lafontaine, advised CBC that his consumer was “very assured within the Canadian justice system.”

“When this prosecution is over, he can have been absolved of any wrongdoing,” Lafontaine added, with out saying the place Panesar is.

He additional added that Panesar was “tidying up his affairs overseas in preparation of his return to Canada.”

Different accomplices within the gold heist

Canadian authorities notice Panesar was a part of a nine-person plan, which included Parampal Sidhu, one other worker of Air Canada. The Peel Regional Police imagine that “each labored collectively and facilitated the heist” as a result of they had been the “insiders”.

Sidhu was arrested shortly after the heist and charged with theft. Even the motive force of the truck, which drove away with the gold — Canadian nationwide, Durante King-McLean — has been in custody within the US after he crossed borders illegally.

One other suspect,
Archit Grover, was arrested in Could 2024, when he turned himself in and landed on the Pearson Worldwide Airport. The police notice that Grover was the proprietor of the trucking firm that was used within the theft. Furthermore, he was a buddy of Parampal.

Others concerned within the crime are: Amit Jalota, who cops notice, sorted the stolen gold. There’s additionally Ammad Chaudhary, Prasath Parmalingam, Arsalan Chaudhary and Ali Raza who had been allegedly concerned within the crime. All of them at the moment are arrested, barring Chaudhary, who, based on a CBC report, is hiding in Dubai.

Virtually two years after the crime, investigators have solely been capable of get well one kilogramme of gold roughly C$89,000 (Rs 55,000), believed to be from the theft, and roughly C$434,000 in foreign money.

With inputs from companies