9 arrested in $14.5M Toronto gold heist
TORONTO -- Police said nine people face charges in what authorities are calling the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto's Pearson International airport a year ago.
Peel Regional Police said Wednesday that 6,600 gold bars worth more than $14.5 million, and $1.8 million in foreign currencies were stolen. The gold was melted down and used to purchase illegal firearms, police said.
Those charged include an Air Canada warehouse employee and a former Air Canada manager who gave police a tour of cargo at the facility after the theft. A jewelry store owner is also charged.
Peel Regional Detective Sgt. Mike Mavity said the gold bars, weighing 923 pounds, and foreign currency, ordered from a refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, were transported in the haul of an Air Canada flight on April 17 last year.
Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu, 54, from Brampton, Ontario, jewelry store owner Ali Raza, 37, from Toronto, Amit Jalota, 40, of Oakville, Ontario, Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, Ontario and Prasath Paramalingam, 35, from Brampton are among those who have been arrested. Mavity said they have been released on bail and will be in court at a later date.
Mavity said a truck driver who is alleged to have picked up the gold, Durante King-Mclean, a 25-year-old from Brampton, is currently in custody in the U.S. on firearms and trafficking charges.
Imprisoned Suu Kyi's location unknown
Myanmar's ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been moved by the military junta to an unknown location from a prison in the capital, Naypyitaw, raising questions about her safety.
Suu Kyi and Win Myint, the country's former president, were relocated "to a safe place because of the high temperatures in the prison," Zaw Min Tun, the military spokesman, said Wednesday, without disclosing their location. Temperatures in Naypyitaw hit 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the past week.
Few people in Myanmar believe that the military is genuinely concerned about Suu Kyi's welfare.
The unexpected movement of Suu Kyi, 78, comes as the military is under intense pressure from a rebel alliance. In recent months, it has suffered its worst losses since seizing power in a coup in 2021.
Suu Kyi, who was deposed in the coup and is still widely revered in the country, is serving a 27-year sentence on corruption and other charges. Rights groups and supporters say the charges were trumped up and meant to keep the Nobel Peace laureate from elected office. Kim Aris, Suu Kyi's younger son, said he believes the junta could use his mother as a potential "bargaining chip."
"As the fighting is getting closer and closer" to the capital, he said, "they are getting more desperate and trying to put things in place that might protect them a little bit."
Indonesian officials issue tsunami alert
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert Wednesday after eruptions at Ruang mountain sent ash thousands of feet high. Officials ordered more than 11,000 people to leave the area.
The volcano on the northern side of Sulawesi island had at least five large eruptions in the past 24 hours, Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said. Authorities raised their volcano alert to its highest level.
At least 800 residents left the area earlier Wednesday.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, has 120 active volcanoes.
Authorities urged tourists and others to stay at least 3.7 miles from the 2,378 foot Ruang volcano.
Officials worry that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami as in a 1871 eruption there.
Tagulandang island to the volcano's northeast is again at risk, and its residents are among those being told to evacuate.
Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency said residents will be relocated to Manado, the nearest city, on Sulawesi island, a journey of six hours by boat.
Germans probe migrant smuggling gang
BERLIN -- German authorities conducted a large-scale raid against an international human smuggling gang early Wednesday, police said in a statement.
More than 1,000 police officers searched dozens of homes, stores and offices across western and southern Germany and detained 10 suspects, including two lawyers.
A total of 38 suspected gang members, as well as 147 other people who allegedly paid to be smuggled by the gang, are being investigated, German news agency dpa reported. The two lawyers, 42 and 46 years old and from the Cologne area, are the main suspects, federal police in nearby Sankt Augustin said. The names of the suspects were not given, in line with German privacy rules.
The suspects are accused of having illegally taken advantage of special German immigration rules reserved for skilled foreign workers to obtain residency permits for around 350 mostly Chinese nationals -- who don't meet the needed criteria -- in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Police officers open the back of a recovered truck during a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
A truck used to transport stolen gold is displayed at a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Police officers open the back of a recovered truck during a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Police officers open the back of a recovered truck during a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chief Nishan Duraiappah, left to right, Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity, Peel Regional Police Det. Gord Oakes and ATF Special Agent in Charge, Eric DeGree pose in front of a recovered truck during a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Peel Police Detective Sergeant Mike Mavity speaks to the media at a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Peel Police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich speaks to the media at a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Peel Police Board Chair Nando Iannicca speaks to the media at a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Investigators stand during a press conference regarding Project 24K a joint investigation into the theft of gold from Pearson International Airport, in Brampton, Ontario, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)