Thieves steal £12 million worth of gold from airport in movie-style heist

Thieves have stolen a £12 million haul of gold and other valuables from an airport in Canada.

Canadian cops have launched an investigation following the theft at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday 17 April.

The airport is often used to ship gold that is mined in Ontario around the world.

Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn told reporters the plane arrived early Monday evening and its ‘high value’ cargo was unloaded and taken to a holding facility.

He explained: “An aircraft arrived here at the airport in the early evening. As per normal procedure, the aircraft was unloaded and cargo was transported from the aircraft to a holding cargo facility.

“What I can say is that the container [had] a high-value shipment. It did contain gold but was not exclusive to gold and contained other items of monetary value.”

Duivesteyn said that some time later the container was 'removed by illegal means’ and was reported missing.

CP24

"Subsequent to its arrival this high value cargo was removed by illegal means from the holding facility,” he added.

Investigations into the theft are still ongoing, the Inspector said, but reassured potential travellers that there’s no concern for public safety.

“We feel this to be an isolated incident,” said Duivesteyn.

“Therefore, for the traveling public that are concerned about coming and flying out, they should have no concern. We do not consider this to be a public safety matter.”

He added that such thefts were ‘very rare’ and said police had not yet confirmed that the thieves were a professional gang.

Pixabay/Linda Hamilton

“We’re three days in, so our investigators have their eyes open to all avenues,” Duivesteyn said.

Officials have so far refused to reveal which airline shipped the cargo, where the load had come from and where it had been headed.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) said the theft did ‘did not involve access to Toronto Pearson itself and did not pose a threat to passengers or GTAA staff’.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority said in a statement: "As this is an active police investigation, we are unable to provide any comments regarding the matter at this time."

This isn’t the first time the airport has been the scene of a heist - all the way back in 1952, thieves made off with six boxes of gold that had been bound for Montreal.

At the time, the theft was valued at $215,000 (£128,000), which would top $1.7 million (£1.4m) today.