The trial of a Punjab-origin man accused of playing an insider role in the $22-million gold and cash heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport began on Monday, with prosecutors alleging that he used his access as an Air Canada employee to help pull off one of the largest gold thefts in Canadian history.Parmpal Sidhu has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.Crown attorney Jelena Vlacic told the court that Sidhu was one of the “inside men” who had the knowledge and access needed to facilitate the April 2023 heist.According to the prosecution, a fraudulent air waybill used to release the shipment was printed at the cargo facility a day before the theft using Sidhu’s employee profile. The Crown alleges Sidhu printed the document.Prosecutors said the driver who arrived to collect the shipment had paperwork for a seafood consignment. However, the air waybill had been altered with a handwritten number corresponding to the gold shipment.The Crown alleges the driver was Durante King-Mclean, an Ontario man who fled to the United States shortly after the theft. US authorities arrested him in Pennsylvania in September 2023. He has since pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking conspiracy charges.“Whoever provided this air waybill to Durante King-Mclean knew exactly what he needed to have and what needed to be changed,” Vlacic told the court.The Crown alleges that the doctored waybill enabled the release of more than $22 million worth of gold bars and foreign currency from an Air Canada cargo facility at Pearson Airport.The trial’s first witness, Peel Regional Police Constable Clayton Asano, testified about the investigation into how the air waybill moved through the cargo facility.The court was shown surveillance footage of a white truck backing into a loading bay. The driver, wearing reflective clothing and a face covering, entered the facility, presented documents and later left with the shipment after an employee loaded it onto the vehicle using a forklift.The entire process took less than an hour, the court heard.Prosecutors said the identity of the driver is not disputed in Sidhu’s trial.During cross-examination, defence lawyers questioned whether other people had access to Sidhu’s computer and whether any witnesses placed him at the cargo terminal when the document was allegedly printed.Asano said he could not answer those questions because he was not involved in every aspect of the investigation.The officer also confirmed that no handwriting analysis was conducted on the altered waybill. During re-examination, he said investigators had considered such testing but abandoned it because there was insufficient handwriting for a meaningful comparison.The court later heard testimony from a woman who was Air Canada’s cargo operations manager at the time of the theft.The proceedings come after prosecutors withdrew charges against two other accused — jeweller Ali Raza and Amit Jalota — last month.Earlier this year, Arsalan Chaudhary was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to theft over $5,000 in connection with the heist. He was also ordered to pay $22 million in restitution.Police have said 6,600 gold bars weighing more than 400 kg, along with foreign currency, were stolen from Pearson Airport on April 17, 2023. The shipment, valued at more than $20 million, had arrived from a refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, aboard an Air Canada flight before being transferred to the airline’s cargo facility.Investigators allege that a suspect later presented a fraudulent air waybill, allowing warehouse staff to release the shipment and load it onto a five-tonne truck.Another accused, Archit Grover, is scheduled to stand trial later this year.