Simran Preet Panesar, wanted in Canada's largest gold heist, found staying in Chandigarh: Report

Simran Preet Panesar, a former Air Canada manager linked to a $20 million gold heist, was found living in Chandigarh.

The 32-year-old Simran Preet Panesar, a former Air Canada manager wanted for his alleged role in Canada's biggest gold heist of over $20 million, has been found living quietly with his family on the outskirts of Chandigarh, The Indian Express reported.

Simran Preet Panesar, who was an Air Canada manager at the time, had given the police team a tour of the warehouse after the heist. (File Photo)

The newspaper, in its investigation in collaboration with the CBC News, tracked down Simran Preet Panesar. His wife, Preety Panesar, was also found living with him. A former Miss India Uganda, a singer and an actor, Preety is not believed to have any role in the heist.

Canada's biggest gold heist

On April 17, 2023, a flight landed at Pearson International Airport from Switzerland's Zurich, carrying a cargo of 6,600 bars of .9999 per cent pure gold, weighing 400 kgs, and CA$2.5 million worth in foreign currency. Shortly after landing, the cargo was offloaded from the plane and transported to another location on the airport property. A day later, in the wee hours of April 18, the cargo was reported missing.

After a nearly year-long investigation, police were on the hunt for two Indo-Canadians who worked in the warehouse from where the gold was allegedly stolen as part of a heist.

The two were identified as Brampton's Parampal Sidhu and Simran Preet Panesar. While Sidhu was arrested in May 2024, Panesar, who worked as a manager at the facility and even facilitated a tour of the space to the police after the robbery, had left Canada by then.

Police arrested a total of six persons for their alleged involvement in the theft.

Later, in July 2024, Panesar's lawyer, Greg Lafontaine, told CBC that he was preparing to surrender in the next weeks as he was “very confident in the Canadian justice system”.

“When this prosecution is over, he will have been absolved of any wrongdoing,” Lafontaine had said at the time.

Notably, Canada-wide warrants have been issued for Panesar.

Simran Preet Panesar living normal life

The Indian Express report claimed that Panesar is living a normal life with his wife and family at a rented accommodation. However, he declined to speak “on record” due to “legal reasons”. His neighbours were apparently told that his monetary dispute in Canada was over.

As Panesar continues to live, the Peel Regional Police also conducts its investigation into the gold heist: 'Project 24Karat'.

The investigation witnessed officers conducting surveillance, interviews, video canvassing and several other works. According to the documents cited by the media outlet, the officers "worked 28,096 hours and 9500 overtime hours to investigate the case", the probe of which is still "ongoing".

PRP officials believe that Sidhu and Panesar worked together and helped facilitate the heist as they were the "insiders" who worked at the warehouse facility.

Canada Police's probe

During the investigation, authorities were also trying to recover the stolen gold. PRP's lead investigator in the case, Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity, had last year said that officials believe a large portion of the gold went to overseas markets that are flush with gold.

“That would be Dubai, or India, where you can take gold with serial numbers on it and they will still honour it and melt it down…and we believe that happened very shortly after the incident,” he reportedly said.

So far, as per The Indian Express report, police have recovered six pure gold bracelets worth more than $89,000 believed to be made from the melted stolen gold, $430,000 in cash. They have also seized smelting pots, casts and moulds that are used to melt gold.