Gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport

A cargo container carrying gold and other valuables worth more C$20m has been stolen from a facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

During a press conference, Peel Regional Police Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn said that an aircraft had arrived at the airport in Canada on the evening of April 17.

Duivesteyn said that as per normal procedure, cargo was unloaded from the aircraft and transported to a holding facility.

“Once this cargo was offloaded at the holding facility, subsequent to its arrival, a high-value container was removed by illegal means from the holding facility,” he said.

“This cargo was reported missing to the Peel Regional Police a short time later and an investigation has commenced.”

The 5 sq ft container held gold and other items of monetary value with an estimated value of just over C$20m. The police did not reveal which airline had transported the cargo or which facility it had been transferred to.

The origin of the flight was also not shared by the police.

This is not the first multimillion-dollar heist involving airfreight this year.

In March, two people were left dead when armed robbers attempted to steal a valuable load of cargo being transported through Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Chile.

The cargo was valued at $32.5m and was being transported from Miami by LATAM.