BREAKING Pearson gold heist suspect arrested after flying into Toronto from India
Another suspect is in custody in connection with the gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport last year, police say.
Family and supporters of human rights activist Dong Guangping have been able to confirm that he has been held in a Chinese detention centre since October of last year, according to a press release.
Dong, 64, is an activist known for standing against Chinese censorship. He has publicly condemned the state’s efforts to silence information about the massacre of protesting students in Tiananmen Square in 1989, his family has told CTV News previously.
For months, his relatives have been seeking information about his whereabouts, fearing he was in Chinese custody for speaking out.
In a news release this week, the Toronto Association for Democracy in China said "credible information" has confirmed that Dong is being held in "incommunicado detention."
“Chinese authorities must release Dong Guangping immediately and unconditionally and allow him to travel to Canada to be reunited with his family," TADC said. "At this point in time he appears to be held without charge or trial. There has been no public acknowledgement of his detention by the Chinese government.”
The statement did not provide a source of the confirmation of Dong's detention.
In 2015, Dong had been granted asylum in Canada, along with his wife and daughter. Before his flight to Canada, which was departing from Bangkok, Thai authorities arrested Dong without explicit reason and delivered him to China, separating him from his family, they say.
After being released from a Chinese prison again, Dong fled to Vietnam in January 2020 where he was living in hiding while the Canadian government attempted to secure him travel documents.
On Aug. 24, 2022, Dong was last seen with a hood being put over his head and taken into custody by dozens of Vietnamese police. Communication with his family has once again been cut off, TDAC said.
For a while, nothing was known about his whereabouts.
Dong’s daughter, Katherine, a Toronto university student and Canadian citizen, publicly announced in February of 2023 that Vietnamese authorities have provided no information on her father’s arrest, despite requests from UN officials and the Canadian government.
“The government of Vietnam continues to torment my family by refusing to explain why they arrested my father almost six months ago,” she said in a press release in February.
“I had hoped he would be safely reunited with us here in Canada by now. Instead we are left to agonize about his safety.”
Both Vietnamese and Chinese officials have previously refused to disclose information about Dong’s captivity.
In the press release, TADC said Dong was “likely returned to China (from Vietnam) sometime in October 2022. The circumstances of how that transpired remain unknown.”
The release added that Dong currently has no access to family visits or communication. He has also had no contact with a lawyer since his disappearance in August 2022, according to his family.
TADC said that credible sources have confirmed that Dong has been held in the Zhengzhou No. 3 Detention Centre in Henan Province since October.
Katherine Dong pleaded for her father’s release.
“I implore Chinese officials to relent in their cruel pursuit of my father simply because he stands strong for human rights,” she said in the press release.
“I beg them to free him and allow him to join us here in Canada.”
With files from CTV National News Ottawa Correspondent Judy Trinh
An earlier version of this article states that Chinese authorities confirmed Dong Guangping whereabouts. This was an error, as the source of information -- although cited as credible by Dong's family -- was not specifically identified.
Another suspect is in custody in connection with the gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport last year, police say.
Hailey and Justin Bieber are going to be parents. The couple announced the news on Thursday on Instagram, both sharing a video that showcases Hailey Bieber's growing belly.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre would not legislate on, nor use the notwithstanding clause, on abortion, his office says, as anti-abortion protesters gather on Parliament Hill.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Studies have shown that ultraprocessed foods can have a detrimental impact on health. But 30 years of research show they don’t all have the same impact.
Miss Teen USA resigned Wednesday, sending further shock waves through the pageant community just days after Miss USA said she would relinquish her crown.
Ontario Provincial Police confirm one person has died after a single-vehicle rollover crash in Sharbot Lake, Ont. that seriously injured five others.
A video circulating on social media of a young girl being hit by a bike has some calling for better safety and more caution when designing bike lanes in the city. The video shows a four-year-old girl crossing Jeanne-Mance Street in Montreal's Plateau neighbourhood to get on a school bus stopped on the opposite side of the street
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.