• Toronto Pearson Airport saw Canada’s largest-ever gold theft on 17 April 2023, with over C$20 million in gold and foreign currency stolen via a forged waybill, exposing insider collusion and verification weaknesses
• A decade earlier, Brussels Airport suffered a €38 million diamond heist, where attackers exploited perimeter and procedural vulnerabilities with precise knowledge and insider information, leaving minimal recovery
• Both incidents highlight recurring risks in high-value airfreight, including insider threats, gaps in documentation and verification, vulnerabilities at transfer points, and the critical need for robust layered security and prevention measures over reactive recovery

On 17 April 2023, Toronto Pearson International Airport became the scene of Canada’s largest-ever gold theft. A shipment of extraordinary value – more than C$20 million in gold bullion and foreign currency – was stolen in a meticulously planned operation that exposed significant vulnerabilities in cargo security.

The consignment originated in Switzerland and was arranged through Brink’s Switzerland Ltd. Valcambi, a Swiss precious metals refiner, dispatched 660 gold bars weighing 400 kilograms to the Toronto-Dominion Bank, while Raiffeisen Schweiz shipped C$2.7 million in banknotes to the Vancouver Bullion and Currency Exchange. Both shipments were consolidated into a single Brink’s container, measuring less than half a square metre. At the time of the theft, the gold was valued at closer to C$34 million when measured against prevailing market prices, a discrepancy that remains unresolved.

The goods arrived in Toronto on Air Canada Flight 881, a Boeing 777-300ER, and were transferred to an Air Canada holding facility at 5:50 pm. Less than an hour later, a truck entered the facility and presented a forged waybill – an altered copy of a genuine document relating to seafood collected the day before. The document, printed on an internal machine, was sufficient to deceive staff. The container was duly loaded onto the vehicle and disappeared into Ontario’s road network. By the time a legitimate Brink’s truck arrived, the consignment was gone.

The theft was reported to police at 2:43 am. The joint investigation between Peel Regional Police and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, codenamed “Project 24K,” uncovered links to organised crime and possible connections to illegal arms trafficking. In April 2024, authorities charged nine individuals, including two Air Canada employees. The recovery, however, was minimal: approximately $430,000 in cash, $89,000 in gold ornaments, and evidence of smelting operations. Police believe the gold was melted and channelled into markets in Dubai and India, beyond effective traceability.

The case highlighted systemic weaknesses: inadequate verification procedures, insider collusion, and overreliance on paper documentation. Despite millions spent on investigations, the bulk of the bullion remains unaccounted for, a lasting reminder of how high-value cargo can be compromised through seemingly simple deception.

Brussels Airport diamond heist, 2013

A decade earlier, in February 2013, Brussels Airport was the stage for a daring theft that demonstrated comparable flaws in the handling of high-value cargo. Eight heavily armed and masked assailants, disguised as police officers, infiltrated the airport’s perimeter and intercepted a Brink’s armoured vehicle transferring diamonds to a Swiss-bound aircraft.

The heist was executed with astonishing efficiency. In less than 15 minutes, the perpetrators breached a security fence, drove onto the tarmac in two vehicles with flashing lights and approached the Fokker jet poised for departure to Zurich. The security guards and airport staff, outnumbered and facing apparent law enforcement officers, offered no resistance. The thieves loaded approximately €38 million worth of polished diamonds – destined for Antwerp, the global diamond trading hub – into their vehicles and left without a single shot fired.

Subsequent investigations revealed the theft to be among the largest diamond robberies in history. Arrests were made across Belgium, France and Switzerland, and several suspects were tried. Yet, as in Toronto, the material recovery was negligible. The diamonds had vanished, presumed laundered through illicit markets or cut and sold piecemeal, rendering them virtually impossible to trace.

The operation highlighted extensive planning and deep knowledge of airport procedures. The attackers knew the precise timing of the transfer, the location of the Brink’s truck, and the vulnerabilities of the airport perimeter. Security analysts concluded that without insider information, the operation’s precision would have been unattainable.

The Brussels heist served as a global warning. The combination of organised crime, insider leaks, and weak perimeter controls could neutralise even high-security environments. The incident forced airports and logistics providers to re-examine their handling of ultra-valuable shipments, particularly at points of transfer between ground vehicles and aircraft.

Shared risks and business lessons 

Both the Toronto and Brussels thefts, though separated by a decade, illustrate recurring and dangerous themes in the airfreight of valuables. The most evident is insider threat. In both cases, knowledge of timings, procedures and vulnerabilities was too precise to be coincidental. Employee collusion, or at the very least leakage of sensitive operational information, enabled the thieves to act decisively.

Secondly, both thefts exploited documentation and verification gaps. In Toronto, a forged airway bill was sufficient to override security, while in Brussels, the use of counterfeit police vehicles and uniforms secured unquestioned access. In each case, reliance on appearances rather than robust checks proved fatal.

Thirdly, the transfer point weakness was glaring. Whether at a holding warehouse or on the tarmac, the moment when high-value goods move between modes of transport remains their most exposed phase. These zones demand the strictest possible controls, yet continue to be soft targets.

Finally, there is a lesson in detection and recovery. In both cases, the goods disappeared irreversibly into opaque global markets, demonstrating that prevention is far cheaper and more effective than post-theft investigation. For the airfreight industry, the imperative is clear: procedural rigour, layered security and vigilance must outpace criminal innovation.