Montreal Airport Heist Nets $13.7 Million
Armed thieves ambushed a private plane as it taxied down a runway Saturday and fled with about $13.7 million in gold ingots and other valuables in one of Canada’s largest robberies, police said.
The pre-dawn heist at Dorval Airport outside Montreal was carried out by at least four men, including one armed with an assault rifle.
They used a garbage truck to smash through a fence, then drove off with the loot in stolen vans, police said. The vans and the weapon were later found about 3 1/2 miles from the airport.
The twin-engined jet plane, owned by Sky Services Inc. of Montreal, had been chartered by Brink’s Canada Ltd. and was returning from a regular overnight run from New York via Ottawa and Toronto. It landed shortly before 4 a.m. local time and ran straight into the ambush.
A masked thief carrying the rifle stayed on the ground while three others went inside the plane, Police Lt. Andrew Theodosis said.
“They told the three people aboard--a Brink’s guard, the pilot and the co-pilot--to keep looking straight ahead, not to turn back. Then they started unloading the cargo area,” he said.
Police said no one was injured and no shots fired.
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