Key figure in Pearson gold heist says he can’t recall conversations with man on trial

A man who received a prison sentence for his role in the Toronto Pearson airport gold heist told a Brampton, Ont., court that on the day of the theft, he communicated with the man currently on trial but cannot remember what he said.

Arsalan Chaudhary returned to the witness stand Monday in the trial of Parmpal Sidhu, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence in the 2023 heist.

Chaudhary was sentenced this spring to four years in prison after pleading guilty to theft over $5,000, and he was given 40 years to pay back $22 million in restitution.

His testimony in Sidhu’s trial was paused last week after he said that recalling his alleged abduction in Pakistan had left him traumatized.

Chaudhary testified on Monday morning that he told Sidhu the truck and driver were ready on the day of the gold heist and that Sidhu replied, “OK.”

The Crown asked Chaudhary about his previous statements under oath in court on July 6, when he said he spoke with Sidhu three times over the phone on April 17, 2023, the day of the heist.

Chaudhary said he now cannot remember those conversations as described in the transcripts of his past statements.

The Crown also asked him about his previous statement that he talked with Sidhu about logistics of the heist and Chaudhary said he cannot remember doing so either.

“I wasn’t trying to remember my past. I was trying to move on,” he said. “The things the Crown and judge appointed me to do … the correctional plan, I was following that and I was trying to move forward with my life.”

Chaudhary attributed his memory lapses to post-traumatic stress disorder and said he needs mental health treatment.

“I’m not sure how PTSD works,” he said. “The counsellor told me that (memory loss) does happen and if we work on it together, you will get better.”

Chaudhary told the court last week that he had been kept at Maplehurst Correctional Complex for about three weeks, where he didn’t receive his prescribed medications including melatonin and vitamins.

He asked the court to send him back to the Collins Bay Institution, a federal prison in Kingston, Ont., where he is serving his sentence.

Superior Court Justice Gordon Cudjoe issued an order to return Chaudhary to the Collins Bay Institution and bring him back to the Brampton courthouse Monday morning to resume his testimony.

Chaudhary told the court last week that he planned the heist with another man who is still wanted by authorities, and he ended up taking 30 per cent of boxes full of one-ounce gold bars.

He said he melted some of the gold before travelling to Pakistan, where he was kidnapped and abused until he gave up the loot.

Prosecutors allege that Sidhu, an Air Canada employee at the time, provided a doctored waybill that allowed another man to pick up more than $22 million in gold and currency from a Pearson airport cargo bay.

Peel regional police have said 6,600 gold bars weighing more than 400 kilograms were stolen from the airport after the shipment arrived from Switzerland.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2026.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press