The former Air Canada manager wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for his alleged role in the largest gold heist in Canadian history is preparing to turn himself in, according to his lawyer.
Simran Preet Panesar is wanted on charges including theft over $5,000 in connection with the April 2023 theft of more than $20 million in gold from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
Panesar is “very confident in the Canadian justice system,” his lawyer, Greg Lafontaine said in a statement to CBC News. “When this prosecution is over, he will have been absolved of any wrongdoing.”
Peel Regional Police say Panesar quit his job last summer and disappeared. The charges against him and eight others were announced in April at the same time as police said the task force investigating the heist had executed 37 search warrants and so far recovered $430,000 in cash, six pure gold bracelets worth about $89,000, as well as smelting pots, casts and moulds.
Lafontaine said Panesar retained him as soon as he learned he was wanted on charges in Canada. Lafontaine then contacted police and the Crown prosecutor to tell them Panesar planned to return voluntarily to Canada in the next few weeks.
“He is anxious to have an opportunity to demonstrate his absolute innocence,” Lafontaine said.
Lafontaine said Panesar is “tidying up his affairs abroad in preparation of his return to Canada.”
He did not say where Panesar is, citing safety concerns. But CBC News has been investigating the possibility he has been in India with his wife, Preety Panesar. She is not believed to have been involved in the heist.
Posts on social media
Preety, a former Miss India Uganda, is a singer and actor and released music videos under the label Muzik Karma Records with her husband when they were both living in Canada.
Before the heist, he was trying to launch a career in the Punjabi entertainment industry alongside her. Promotional materials online suggest they were both involved in a film slated for 2022 called Zeba.
In interviews on YouTube Preety credits him with launching her career.
In an interview last year with a Punjabi entertainment reporter, she indicated a new film would start shooting in September with hopes it would be released by December.
Just days before the charges against her husband were announced, Preety posted pictures and video from a photoshoot that appeared to…
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