Prosecutors have dropped charges against two men who had been accused in connection with the multimillion-dollar gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport, after concluding there was no reasonable prospect of conviction in their cases.
Jeweller Ali Raza, 40, had been charged in 2024 with possession of property obtained by crime and had been accused of involvement in melting down gold stolen during the April 2023 robbery. During a Brampton court hearing on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Jelena Vlacic said prosecutors had decided to end the proceedings against him.
The Crown concluded that the case against Raza was based on circumstantial evidence and did not have a reasonable prospect of conviction. Further details explaining the decision are subject to a publication ban because other accused individuals are still awaiting trial.
The decision came one day after prosecutors also dropped charges against Amit Jalota, 42, in the same Brampton court under similar circumstances. Jalota had faced charges including conspiracy to commit theft over $5,000, theft over $5,000 involving gold and bank notes, and possession of property knowing it had been obtained through an indictable offence.
Both Raza and Jalota maintained their innocence throughout the proceedings. The withdrawal of their charges means the allegations against them will not proceed to trial.
The developments come months after Arsalan Chaudhary, 44, pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 for his role in the heist. Chaudhary was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $22 million in restitution to Brink’s.
Chaudhary surrendered to authorities in January 2026 after previously leaving Canada for Dubai. According to an agreed statement of facts presented in court in March, he admitted to being one of the organizers of the robbery and helping arrange for the stolen gold to be transported to a Mississauga jeweller to be melted down.
The Pearson heist took place on April 17, 2023, after an Air Canada cargo flight arrived from Zurich, Switzerland. The shipment contained approximately 400 kilograms of gold valued at about $20 million, along with roughly $2.5 million in foreign currency.
The shipment was subsequently removed from an Air Canada cargo facility at Pearson in what became one of the largest gold thefts in Canadian history. Despite the investigation, none of the stolen gold has been recovered.
Other accused individuals remain before the courts, and the charges against them have not been proven in court.
