Cargo container with $15 million in gold and other valuables stolen from Toronto airport, police say

() — An air cargo container carrying more than $15 million worth of gold and other valuables disappeared Monday from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, and police are still trying to figure out who is behind the million-dollar heist.

The aircraft was unloaded and the cargo was taken to a holding facility on Monday night, “as per normal procedure,” Stephen Duivesteyn of Peel Regional Police said at a news conference at the airport on Thursday.

So, “this high-value container was illegally removed from the holding facility,” he said.

Police did not say whether security cameras caught the theft, which airline transported the container or who owns the container.

“What I can say is that the container contained a high value shipment, it contained gold but it was not exclusively gold and it contained other items of monetary value,” Duivesteyn said, estimating the contents to be worth around $15 million ( 20 million Canadian dollars).

Police declined to speculate whether it was “professional” work, saying it was too early in the investigation.

“We are three days in, so our researchers have their eyes open to all the possibilities. So we don’t want to make a mistake and focus on one particular area, we’re keeping a broad perspective, so we’re looking at all angles of how this item was stolen,” Duivesteyn said.

“I would suggest that this is an isolated incident. This is very rare,” Duivesteyn said, adding that the investigation is not expected to disrupt operations at the airport, which it claims is Canada’s busiest.