Accused Toronto airport gold heist gang turned on each other in nasty fight for loot

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Someone named “Grove” is a reference to Archit Grover, Angevine said, who is accused of supplying the truck used to move the stolen gold from the airport warehouse.

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There are also references to someone referred to as “Dubai.” Court heard earlier that Ansalan Chaudhary, who admitted he was one of the masterminds of the heist, had flown to Dubai after the heist.

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“This is what Dubai doesn’t f–king understand: I’ll make sure if I lose my cut then f–king Grove will lose his too,” Sidhu is heard saying in one of the wiretaps, court heard. “You think Grove’s just gonna walk away unscathed? No f–king chance.”

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Arsalan Chaudhary, a suspect in the 2023 Pearson International Airport gold heist, is arrested by Peel Regional Police after arriving at Pearson airport from Dubai, on Monday Jan. 12, 2026. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia

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He also complained of people leaving Canada after the heist — “who’ve just taken off and left,” he said. Grover, Chaudhary and the man who court heard was the second mastermind behind the heist, Simran Preet Panesar, a former Air Canada manager, are all known to have travelled abroad.

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Sidhu complained in another call, “I didn’t know he was going to f–king vanish,” court heard. “His promises are absolutely, utterly worthless.”

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He implored the person on the other end of one call to intercede on his behalf: “Make it clear. You need to explain the situation,” he said. He said the guy “didn’t believe me that I got charged.”

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“You know how f–king angry it makes me, because I never cheated anybody.”

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He also made apparent threats amid his anger.

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“I’m going to f–king tear him apart now,” he said.

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In a call on Jan. 14, 2024, he said he had been warned he “can’t go after them” or he risks being “arrested,” but that money was coming, however, it is “not going to be what you’re expecting.”’

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By the sound of the calls, the payout never came.

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In one call, he is heard musing with someone about sending a frightening message with what sounds like a drive-by shooting.

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“Can somebody just go there and like spray them — not hurt anybody — but spray like the cars, the house, or something like that, or whatever. Something to worry?”

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A shipment worth $20 million disappeared in April 2023 from this Air Canada cargo holding facility at Toronto’s Pearson airport. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

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Court also heard that an analysis of Sidhu’s phone records showed he talked and texted with Panesar, his Air Canada manager and fellow accused in the heist, more than he did with his wife before the theft.

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Court heard that three months before the Toronto airport gold heist, a bank draft for $30,000 was deposited into Sidhu’s bank account.

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Const. Michael Asanin, a Peel police fraud investigator, testified that he examined 1,121 pages of bank records for Sidhu, spanning several bank accounts and pointed out a large bank draft deposit of $30,000 on Jan. 5, 2023, which was three months before the gold heist.

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Sidhu’s lawyer, Shale Wagman, asked Asanin if he knew whether the gold heist plot was underway at the time of the deposit. He said he didn’t know.

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Wagman asked him if the money could have an innocent source.

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“I have nothing to say that this particular draft was or was not fraudulent,” Asanin said.

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The trial continues.

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