Key Pearson gold-theft conspirator to testify in former Air Canada employee’s trial

Arsalan Chaudhary, a 43-year-old serving a four-year term after pleading guilty to multiple offences tied to the April 2023 theft of 6,600 gold bars from Toronto Pearson Airport, is scheduled to testify in the ongoing trial of former Air Canada cargo employee Parmpal Sidhu. Sidhu faces charges of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy for allegedly providing a forged air waybill that allowed a driver to collect more than $22 million in gold and foreign currency from the airport’s cargo facility.

He entered a not-guilty plea earlier this month and is represented by lawyers Shale Wagman and Silvan Dasari. The case is being heard before Judge Gordon Cudjoe in Brampton, with prosecutors asserting that Sidhu printed the counterfeit document on site using his employee profile. Police investigations have traced the heist to a Zurich-origin cargo flight and a driver, Durante King-Mclean, who later fled to the United States. Chaudhary’s testimony is expected to shed light on the planning and post-theft handling of the stolen gold.