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Subscribe to RSSKEDJWICK, New Brunswick -- Police in Canada have recovered more than 600 barrels of maple syrup as part of an investigation into a multi-million dollar heist.
The seized syrup was being transported under police protection from New Brunswick to Quebec, officials said Wednesday.
The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers reported large quantities of syrup missing last month during a routine inventory, finding empty barrels at a site of the province's global strategic reserve at St-Louis-de-Blandford.
Quebec provincial police Sgt. Christine Coulombe said Wednesday police executed a search warrant in Kedjwick, New Brunswick, last week, but would not provide more information as the investigation was ongoing.
'We're taking everything'
However, the owner of Kedjwick-based exporter S.K. Export Inc. said police visited last week and told him it was related to the missing syrup. Etienne St-Pierre said his usual suppliers, small producers based in Quebec, sold it to him.
This has left the New Brunswick exporter in a sticky situation. He's been locked out of his office, which he said is under Royal Canadian Mounted Police watch.
"They came in and said, 'we're taking everything.' There wasn't much I could do," said Etienne St-Pierre, who said he initially thought the officers were joking.
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Saying he has nothing to hide, Etienne St. Pierre has since shown all his paperwork to investigators trying to get to the bottom of the great syrup heist.
The shipment of the pancake-topper was making its way back to Quebec in a heavily guarded convoy of 16 trailer-loads on Wednesday.
Maple syrup production has been hampered by the unusually warm winter. WILX's Hannah Saunders reports.
"(The convoy's) under police protection going somewhere in Quebec," said Yvon Poitras, the general manager of the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association.
The heist does not appear to be unprecedented -- the stolen syrup, valued at more than $20 million, was insured, the Montreal Gazette reported.
Quebec is a maple syrup superpower, producing 80 percent of the world's supply and the warehouse involved was stocked more than $30 million worth of the sticky substance.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Wow, they have a strategic reserve for Maple syrup? And Canada is the super power of Maple Syrup. Amazing.
It's a very sticky situation.
This is a huge blow to the syrup cartels operating north of the border. Pancake stocks on the NYSE must be plummeting as we speak
Now this is what I call serious crime, just when the economy is starting to recover a shortage of maple syrup will cause a 2nd dip into recession.
From now on, I'm putting jam on my pancakes, most likely orange marmalade from Florida or California.
Gotta support American growers, not those lefty Canooks.
There goes my Waffle House and IHOP stock.
Oh bother I guess I'm stuck with it since I'm tapped out.
The dealers can't wait to fence this illicit crop of 'maple syrup'!?!
"...finding empty barrels at a site of the province's global strategic reserve at St-Louis-de-Blandford..."
I suspect our Bears crossed the border and had something to do with the syrup heist...Park rangers cant seem to locate Yogi Bear and Boo-boo....Smokey the Bear was last seen headin north with a .45 and a ski mask
@howard44024, I can't speak to your local waffle house, but since when does IHOP use real maple syrup?
I am pretty sure if you could read the original packaging, it would say "Imitation Maple Goo"...kind of like how many flavors of Bryers Ice Cream are now "frozen dairy desserts" because there is not enough cream in them by law to be called "ice Cream".
@Kevin C-752389
It was just a joke I have never eaten at IHOP and though I like the flavor of maple the syrup is to sweet for my tastes (makes me cringe just thinking about it). I usually use fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, peaches) on Buckwheat pancakes on the rare occassion that I eat them. The irony is that I live in Geauga County, (Chardon) which is referred to as Maple Country our local yearly shin dig is the Maple Festival.
"Pssst. Buddy, I got the real deal here. First waffle is on me."
@howard44024, while there was truth to what I wrote, I was also kidding....making light of what some places serve us. In intended no offense if you took any. My apologies.
I am greatly relieved that there is a global strategic reserve of maple syrup in Canada, but I demand we have one here in US as well. Every American should feel out-syruped by the crafty Canucks... it is an outrage that we are so unprotected...
@Kevin C-752389
Its all good I wasn't offended :)
I pick on a lot of restaurants also especially fast or fake food joints. Why people spend $7.00 or more for a "Crappy" Meal when you can go to many local mom and pop places and get a real burger and a side for almost the same price (1 local place is $4.79 for a 1/2 pound incl. cheese with chips) is beyond me.
Not only that, but Canada is the largest single supplier of oil to the Unied States.
Nearly 1/3 of all crude oil imported to the U.S. comes from Canada.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm
Sweet article !
Howard,
I've lived in Vermont all my life, and I also don't care for maple syrup. And I absolutely hate maple candy and sugar on snow. Way too sweet.
Make fun all you want guys but this is serious. It may be only Maple Syrup this time next it could be "Canadian" bacon.......not so funny now is it. But it doesn't stop there eventually it goes all the way to Molson Golden beer and Crown Royal Canadian whisky................which would lead to "Alcoholgedden" and the collapse of mankind.
Nothing like stealing $20 million of you "own" syrup, collecting the insurance and selling it on the black market for 50 cents on the dollar. That's a total of $10 million. It's all good until you get:
At least that's what I get out of this story.
gtouch,
"Alcoholgedden" will only lead to the collapse of Russia ;-)
This is a new low for theives! Taking Maple Syrup and then most likely bottleing it and reselling it overseas or down here in the states.
I hope that they find them, pour some of the syrup all over the theives and then tie them to a tree in a forest for about 24 straight hours. Bet they wouldn't steal ever again!
There's Gtouch again, still preaching about Alcoholgedden and hoping that the Moosehead Lager Prophecy will be fulfilled.
Listen there are several important people who believe this for example, Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker, Jim Beam and his Old Granddad, Bud Weiser. The day or reckoning is coming.
One time when I came home from a Canadian cruise, a TSA agent in Boston discovered that I was carrying a very small container of Maple Syrup. She immediate said, "You could make a bomb with this." She took it away from me..... all $6.95 worth of the stuff. When I looked back at her from inside the secured area, her finger was in her mouth and she was smacking. Hummmm. Maybe she was trying to blow herself up.
Does Canada have weapons of mass destruction?
@Andy Ritch, if you had broken the seal, you should have run over to her, and told her you have hepatitis C, and she better get to a doctor. I would say AIDS, but most people realize that it probably isn't transmitted via saliva, and you want her to be scared.
It's Fall...almost Winter and there's nothing better than a feathery lite buttermilk steaming hot waffle peeled away from the Waffle-iron, instantly slathering on goops of Grade-AA melted butter and strategically dripping REAL MAPLE SYRUP in each cavity!!! Ahhhh.... Waffle-Paradise!
I'm sure each and every officer in the convoy is sticking to their guns to make sure not one single ounce disappears.
When I clicked on the link did I get redirected to "The Onion?"
I'm surprised the article didn't mention that syrup is the secret ingredient that makes their hockey players superhuman.
howard44024
There goes my Waffle House and IHOP stock.
Oh bother I guess I'm stuck with it since I'm tapped out
Sorry to disillusion you Howard but that stuff they serve is NOT maple syrup. It's maple Favored syrup made from water, corn syrup and "flavoring??"
Kevin C
It was a small "happy" for my wife and I was more worried about the consequences than the smacking of the agent. Your suggestion would have been a good one. This event took place about two weeks after 9/11 so our security was REALLY at stake. In fact on the Continental flight back to Texas the attendant said "you cannot form a line for the toilet in the front of the aircraft...and, by the way, when you come forward you had better look like you NEED to go because every eye on this plane will be on you." My, what times those were.
Gtouch,
You left out Captain Morgan. And you will no longer be able to go to Canada for your moosehead.
By the end of this century the US prodution of maple syrup will be a fraction of what it used to be. Mable trees in Vermont, NH, and Maine are dying off due to warming and acid rain. Thanks to unrelenting use of fossil fuels.
So I'm guessing you don't use fossil fuels to power your suv and heat your house?
IHOP is already using oil on their pancakes. Get with the times.
Our sugar maples are also having a tough time due to the warmer weather. Not a real big fan of high fructose corn-made syrup. It's also a GM product.
When I was a child, my family would visit friends in northern Vermont. One of them had a dairy farm, and he and his family made maple syrup every year. I remember this man tapping trees with his sons and hanging buckets from them in the spring, with snow still being on the ground. I remember going into the sugar house as it was called, and seeing huge vats of sap being boiled down by wood fires underneath. The smell was delicious. Syrup was graded according to color, and was then trucked to neighboring towns and stores to be sold. A treat for us kids was to pour maple syrup over clean snow, packed into a bowl. This gave it a taffy like quality and it could be eaten by hand. The work that goes into making maple syrup is incredible. No idea why some think that the theft of it - or government protection of it - is funny.
Nikolaus20-
last winter I decided to splurge and buy the real thing. I grew up with homemade syrup made using white sugar and water boiled together with mapleine (artificial maple flavor) added. the real thing is wonderful. . . don't eat french toast/waffles/pancakes that often but now. In MN they make it from maple but also basswood trees.
Okay, I'm getting hungry.:) We also used to put maple syrup over ice cream, stir it into milk as a drink, and put it on hot oatmeal. And the maple candy.....mmmmmmm...
I don't have to worry about harming the trees with fossil fuels. I heat with a wood stove.
Wait....
And a global strategiic reserve at that. Ah, that nations might rise and fall for pancakes!
They keep waffling on their policies.
physiologist: global warming is going on "globally" that is why it is called "global warming". You might want to rethink your name!
perhaps but global whining is pretty much contained within the U.S..................................:)
Faulty logic is "logic" that is "faulty." That's why it's called "faulty logic." In this case, it could also be called circular reasoning, or a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Scooter---Global Warming is happening everywhere---where in the galaxy have you been?
Guess that you are one of those who ignore the dropping of ice shelves into the ocean at both poles!
It may be happening globally, but the effects vary locally and regionally.
sillyshrinks,
You may want to re-read Scooter's comment.
Yes we are in a warming cycle, but man made global warming has not been proven, however man's influence in adding to global warming is a factor. Man is not powerful enough to cause all of global warming but he has influenced it.
Gary,
True. We definitely influenced it.
I wonder if Volcanic Eruptions put enough emissionsin the air to equal 3 million tractor trailers running at full speed 24/7 for 100 years in two days. There's wildfires and many other natural causes.
I order Maple Syrup from Canada online every year. Well worth of money. An excellent product worth protecting.
Deweydan,
Why Canada unless you're from Canada? Vermont makes just as good quality, the same syrup grades as Canada, priced the same or better and is produced by American, hard working taxpayers. You might as well order your syrup from China.
Michigan is a good place to buy pure maple syrup, too. Families have been processing syrup here for generations.
Ohio has high quality maple syrup, some even produced the old fashion way in a wood fired boiler.
I do order Maple Syrup from Canada and also Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. I also order Honey from many different locations to try the variations. GO U.S.A.. Sorry for any confusion.
They obviously need help from the French.................toast!!
With additional assistance from the Belgians...............waffles.
William & Denver,
Good ones however, I prefer American Toast, American Waffles, American Wine, American Fries, American Women.
:-) Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! Num num num num!
I prefer Home fries
Meanwhile, south of the Canadian border, US police and health officials were busy as well, raiding raw milk producers, destroying their product and arresting the farmers.
It seems Canadian policed protect their produce, our government agents destroy it.
Nothing new here. One country tries to protect their crops, while we try to destroy them. Talk to the Mexicans about pot, the Columbians about coca or the Afghanis about poppies. The last example is particularly heinous. Those evil Americans.......digging up and burning another country's flowers.
amen jacques, I also believe your words. The US is the only one still advocating for the poisons of GMO foods.
Bill, production quadrupled in Afghanistan since we've been there. we guard the fields, we don't destroy them. maybe one for PR. What supplied the pill mills in Florida ( the pain clinics) and all over the country do you think?
Actually just recently at a dinner party, a Canadian friend gave us a can of her private stock of syrup.
Maple syrup is a well deserved source of pride, for our friends to the north.
Just remember... no maple syrup = no maple glazed ham come Thanksgiving....
What a hoser........
That just... tops the cake
Peoples entire livelihoods come from these beautiful trees.
Long live the Maple Trees.
I had a Canadian boyfriend for ten years and Canadian maple syrup is something they're very proud of up there. They haven't had an economic meltdown or housing bust. Their economy has been perking right along without unemployment problems. Maybe the US should follow their example and forget about being the world's cop, much to the detriment of our citizens. We just can't afford to be on the ten year war plan anymore.
Stealing from the strategic national reserve makes this a crime against national security. Sweet Treason!
Oh, Canadia!
Clever very clever
Why does this read like an article from The Onion?
I know. What's the body count?
I love real maple syrup, and will usually indulge in it if I can afford it. Unfortunately the future isn't looking too good for the real stuff, so I will probably have to go back to high-fructose corn syrup. Yuck!!!
The real stuff is expensive. I bought a small jug & it was $6, you can buy Canadian whiskey cheaper. The touristy jug probably cost as much as the syrup. It must of been from Quebec as the label was in French & English.
stc1993,
As you get closer to the Canadian border just about every product's label is printed in English and French. The maple farm's name and origin should be printed on label somewhere. The jugs cost about $0.20 cents each if you purchase in bulk. The maple syrup process is a tedious process and the product is worth the price.
At least the product didn't say Made in China and the label wasn't printed in English and Spanish for a change.
I have Amish that harvest the Maple Syrup from my woods of maple trees, and i enjoy the check i get every years, but no check this year, it was a very poor maple syrup year in Indiana, let me tell you!! And with 2013 being predicted to be just as hot and unpredicatable as this years was, i'm not looking forward to anything this coming year either. So pass the Canadian Maple Syrup please!! And lets hope the worlds weather gets back on track for 2014.
If it's not gas, or corn now it's maple syrup. Watch out as syrup cost is going up now :)
I'm going to go out on a maple limb, and say, "That due to the recovery of the Maple Syrup, syrup costs will be going up because of the expenditure to retrieve the sugary goodness."
I'd almost say it was a set up. This is just another excuse for them to raise the cost of goods going across their border. They'll put it down as costs of doing business, and then hike the price up. I like maple syrup, but the item is food, not gold, and I refuse to pay gold prices for something to put on my pancakes.
get locally made maple syrup. The syrup from Northern New England, Upstate NY, and the upper Great Lakes regions are all very good.
Honey too. Local honey is better for your body than honey derived from a distant source.
I know real maple syrup, that is the only syrup I put on my pancakes
The Vermont's one is fake as expected...what do you think the Americans like?...chemically engineered syrup that is.
Not knowing that you don't know is scary...
I don't know about up north but the stuff they sell in the south is not real it's maple flavored syrup. I like the old fashion pure cane syrup or molasses.
Gr-007,
BS. Maybe you got your hands on some bad VT syrup, but your comment is false. I know of plenty of maple processors in the NEK (North East Kingdom) who produce some of the best tasting and pure maple syrup.
Pedal you BS elswhere or give me the name of one fake brand that is produced in VT and claiming to be pure.
Police protection for a maple syrup shipment, huh? What's next? Will Mrs. Butterworth want a Secret Service detail now too?
I just don't understand Canada. Eh.
Maple syrup IS liquid gold to those folks who produce it.
I think it was the Aunt Jemima O.V.C. (Original Vermont Crew) that did it. The government received intel 2 years ago that Mrs. Butterworth's cartel were operating in cahoots with them out of the back of a Tim Horton's off of I-87 near the border They've also been known to hang out at Rouse's Point.. Govt. officials keep waffling on how best to handle such a sticky situation. They're going to release a bunch of illegal sap buckets and full-auto tree spiles to known syrup smugglers to see if they lead agents back to the cartel.
The Jemimahs n Butterworths doin drive bys ..Slowly
Seank,
Awesome.
I'm hungry.