- nadine yousif
- BBC News, Toronto
image source, Getty Images
The April 14 robbery made international headlines, but police still haven’t solved the case.
A U.S.-based security company has sued Air Canada over millions of dollars worth of gold bars and cash stolen from Toronto’s airport in April.
Brinks International claims the airline was “reckless” and failed to prevent the theft.
The goods, worth more than C$20 million ($15 million, £12 million), had recently arrived on an Air Canada flight from Zurich to Toronto before being stolen.
The robbery is one of the largest in Canadian history.
Items stolen included gold bars weighing 400.19 kg and $2 million in cash.
The April 14 theft, which garnered international headlines at the time, remains unsolved by police.
In a lawsuit filed Oct. 6 in the Federal Court of Canada, Brinks said he was hired by a bank and a precious metals company to coordinate the shipment of the goods.
The company said the items were stolen 42 minutes after they were taken off a plane that had just arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport from Switzerland.
The lawsuit alleges that after the valuables were unloaded, an unidentified person entered the warehouse where the valuables were stored at around 6:30 p.m. local time.
“There were no security protocols or features in place to monitor, restrict or regulate access by unidentified persons to the facility,” Brink said.
The person was able to enter the country by presenting an unrelated baggage air waybill to an Air Canada employee.
The airline then released the cargo to the individual, who “fled with the cargo,” the complaint states.
Brink argued that Air Canada staff did not attempt to verify the authenticity of the waybill “in any way” and that the theft could have been prevented if Air Canada had properly followed its security guidelines.
The airline claimed Air Canada was liable for damages. Brinks has asked the airline to fully repay the cost of the stolen merchandise.
Air Canada has not released an official statement regarding the allegations. The BBC has contacted the airline for comment.
The theft is one of the largest heists in Canadian history. Other robberies include the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist in 2011 and 2012, when 3,000 tonnes of syrup worth $18.7 million was stolen from a storage facility in Quebec.
