The armored car company Brink’s is suing Air Canada after the airline allegedly failed to secure a huge shipment of gold and cash at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Six months ago, Brink’s was transporting $17.2 million in gold bars and cash from an airport in Europe to Canada. The airport allegedly lost the shipment when a random person (not the owner) showed up and picked up all the loot.
The cash and gold were reportedly two different shipments that Brink’s was transporting at the same time. The Air Canada plane landed in Toronto at 3:56 p.m. and the cargo was unloaded and stored in a warehouse at the airport by 5:50 p.m. That’s when an “unidentified individual” walked into the warehouse and allegedly showed airport staffers a waybill for a completely different cargo shipment.
The airport staffers allegedly handed over the shipment, which contained about 880 pounds of gold bars and $1.9 million in cash. The unidentified person then took off with the gold and cash, and the crime has never been solved.
Naturally, Brink’s is upset about the fiasco because they are liable for the contents of that shipment. Brink’s paid to send the shipment through a special service called AC Secure, which is supposed to provide extra security for cargo. Brink’s argues that the Air Canada employees didn’t even bother to closely look at the waybill that the random person handed them. They simply released the gold and cash to that person, and now the owner wants his or her money back from Brink’s.
Under regular international agreements on lost or stolen luggage or cargo, Brink’s can only expect to recover about 1% of the cargo’s value. They’re suing to try to prove that Air Canada employees were negligent in hopes of not being forced to pay for the $17.2 million in gold and cash that some random person walked off with.
