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“There is no further update to provide as of yet.”
In contrast, Montreal police were tight-lipped about their collaboration with their Ontario counterparts.
“In order not to interfere with the ongoing investigation, we cannot provide further information,” Mélanie Bergeron, a spokesperson of the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM), told the Gazette, declining to confirm or rule out a possible link.
On Tuesday, Montreal police stumbled upon a huge cache of gold while carrying out what was intended to be a raid to seize illegal firearms. Police arrested seven people and grabbed nine firearms, a kilogram of cocaine, and a kilo and a half of methamphetamine. They also confiscated $500,000 in cash and “a large quantity of gold.”
“The exact value of the precious metal seized has yet to be determined, but is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the SPVM declared in a statement.
In the annals of Montreal crime, the seizure of such a quantity of gold is extremely rare, if not unprecedented. A review of nearly 40 years’ worth of published crime stories in the Gazette found on only one comparable story: In 1994, provincial police carried out a series of raids on the West End Gang, seizing 26.5 tonnes of hashish at the Port of Montreal, along with $800,000 in cash and two two-kilogram bars of gold.
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Last spring, Peel Regional Police confirmed that more than $20 million in gold and “other high-value items” were stolen on the evening of April 17 after a plane that landed at Pearson airport was unloaded and its cargo transported to a holding facility.
To date, police have made no arrests in connection with the gold heist. But after months of silence, a lawsuit filed by Brink’s against Air Canada finally shed new details on how that robbery was pulled off.
As first reported by journalist Glen McGregor, Brink’s alleges that a thief used a fraudulent waybill to gain access to the gold shipment that arrived after a flight from Zurich, Switzerland. That shipment contained 400 kilograms of gold worth $20.4 million from Valcambia SA, a precious metal refinery.
In contrast, Montreal police netted only several hundred thousand dollars worth of gold on Tuesday. But unlike Toronto, Montreal police made arrests, and on Wednesday, seven individuals were charged at the courthouse with various offenses, including firearms and drug trafficking. One of the seven was conditionally released until her next court date. Her alleged accomplices will remain in custody during this period.
aderfel@postmedia.com
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