A snapshot of the moment was captured for posterity and — possibly — proof. The grainy photo is now part of a voluminous court file relating to what happened next. This is an unusual story, but not entirely unexpected: the container and its contents disappeared. And while traces of long-lost silver have appeared in B.C. and Massachusetts, most of the loot remains unaccounted for as a legal battle rages over who exactly is responsible. “This case has all the makings of an Agatha Christie rant,” Federal Court Case Management Judge Kevin Aalto wrote in a ruling that rejected an attempt to stay the proceedings earlier this year. “A valuable stolen cargo, a secure location, multiple potential suspects, an unknown perpetrator, and a trucking company that was given the pickup code with instructions to deliver the cargo to a location unknown to either party.”
Fingers pointing
Another Federal Court judge upheld Aalto’s ruling last week – rejecting an appeal by a shipping company that wanted to move the legal battle from Canada to South Korea, where the silver originated. Two arms of security firm Brink’s — which was hired to transport the silver from Korea to the United States via Canada — are suing shipping and logistics companies subcontracted to transport the cargo. The shipping company that delivered the missing ingots took this photo after dropping off the cargo at a warehouse in Laval. The silver then disappeared. (Federal Court filings) Those companies denied any wrongdoing — pointing to other links in the chain of companies that transported the precious cargo by sea to Vancouver and by rail to Montreal, where it remained at a CN yard until Jan. 20, 2020, the day the container was released with the provision password protected. According to the lawsuit, the 18,276.02 kilograms of silver ingots were worth US$10,262,242.37 — the amount Brink paid its customer after the theft. Now Brink’s wants to collect that money from the companies it claims are responsible.
Password Hacking
The court records are as confusing as the maritime world — but at the heart of the case lies a classic heist by pirates wielding an email instead of swords. Aalto’s judgment says shipping giant Maersk eventually moved the cargo from Korea to Canada. Another company — Binex — was to act as consignee, a shipping term for the company to which the goods are officially shipped or delivered. Global security firm Brink’s is suing a number of companies it claims should be held responsible for the disappearance of more than US$10 million worth of silver bars shipped from Korea to Canada. (Image source: pixgood) “Maersk created and released a receipt code to the consignee, Binex, without which CN rail company could not release the cargo,” Aalto wrote. “Binex’s only role was to receive the pick-up code from Maersk and release it to Brink’s, which would transport the cargo to its final destination in New York.” Maersk sent the receipt code to a Binex email account on January 6, 2020. “The receipt of this email and subsequent access to it by the thieves is the subject of ongoing investigations,” Aalto wrote. Two weeks after Maersk sent the code — PU #885402 — it appeared with the container number and the correct cargo weight on a pickup request emailed to the trucking company which then delivered the silver to a warehouse as instructed . “The warehouse was an end unit of a set of three older warehouse buildings that are in a dilapidated condition. The cargo never reappeared and was never delivered to the rightful owner and actual consignee,” Brink’s says in its original claim. “After some investigation, it was determined that the delivery email was fraudulent and the shipment was stolen.”
A silver bar found in Nanaimo, B.C
According to Brink’s allegations, current or former Binex employees “provided the necessary information to the thieves or cooperated or were associated with the thieves to facilitate the removal of the cargo.” In a statement of defence, Binex denies these claims, saying the company “carried out its duties in a safe and prudent manner at all times without fault or negligence”. Stolen silver ingots turned up in Nanaimo and Massachusetts. Brink’s turned over the recovered cargo to Toronto police, who offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. (Federal Court Filings) For its part, Maersk also says it did nothing wrong, taking “appropriate, ordinary and necessary measures” to ensure the cargo was “properly and carefully received, transported and delivered”. The court file includes an affidavit from Phil Wright, director of operations and security at Brink’s Global Services International, detailing the hunt for the missing silver. Wright claims some of the ingots were discovered in November 2020 at a refinery in Massachusetts. The silver had been shipped there from Brampton. Almost a year later, a 1,000-ounce bar was discovered in Nanaimo in October 2021. “Brink’s captured the silver discovered in the United States and British Columbia (the ‘recovered cargo’) which was 26 barrels, one full bar and three small bars totaling 1,836.175 kilograms,” says Wright.
A reward of $5,000
Wright’s affidavit includes photos of the silver, which was turned over to the Toronto Police Service. That led to a news release from Toronto police last year asking for the public’s help in identifying suspects in the theft of the silver. Some of the US$10 million worth of silver ingots stolen from a container in January 2020 have been found, but the bulk remains missing. One of the bars was found in Nanaimo last year. (Toronto Police Service) The statement promised a $5,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest, but did not provide any of the details connecting the case to the ongoing lawsuit and the brazen robbery. “Investigators believe that some of the silver was melted down into ingots for a better chance of avoiding suspicion when sold,” the statement said. “Investigators would like to speak to anyone who may have received these ingots or fears they may have received silver by-products from this stolen shipment.” No arrests appear to have been made to date. None of the allegations have been proven in court.
