Maple syrup worth up to $30M stolen in Quebec

[Twindadx2]

Just came across this article in the news. Wow there's now going to be black market syrup out there :o



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/08/31/montreal-maple-syrup-theft.html?cmp=rss

[mapleack]

Just had a friend send this to me. Totally nuts, if the warehouse was cleaned out we're talking 900,000 gal of syrup! That's gotta be most of the reserve I'd think?

[ennismaple]

Holy crap - this is insane. I hope they catch the guys and recover the syrup. Thieves are bottom of the barrel scum.

[spud]

I am having a tough time buying into this story. Something just does not add up. Could it be possible the barrels never had syrup in them to begin with. Maybe the whole reserve thing was a hoax. I am sure their insurance will cover the lose. Does this mean we will all be getting $5.00 a pound next season?

Spud

[CBOYER]

If the entire warehouse's contents were stolen, it would represent more than a tenth of Quebec's 2012 harvest, and more than a quarter of the federation's inventory.

Look at the IF....they dont give the exact amount of syrup stolen...

[Grade "A"]

I am having a tough time buying into this story. Something just does not add up. Could it be possible the barrels never had syrup in them to begin with. Maybe the whole reserve thing was a hoax. I am sure their insurance will cover the lose. Does this mean we will all be getting $5.00 a pound next season?

Spud

I'm with you, it does not sound right. Why would someone spend the time to empty a drum instead of taking the whole thing? A million gallons is a very big amount. For example our fire truck can pump up to 1,250 gallons of water a minute (cold syrup would be much less), it would take 13.33 hours of non-stop pumping to move a million gallon of water. If you were to put the syrup into a tractor trailer tank truck (like a milk truck) that holds 7,000 to 8,000 gallons it would take between 125 and 142 load to steal 1,000,000 gallons of syrup. Hard to believe that many loads could be hauled out and no one notice until now. Let the conspiracy theories start!!! :lol:

[Mark]

If it was a lot of syrup it was probably taken over time and made to look like it just happened. Just a guess.

[Vermonner]

Comment dites on "insurance fraud" en francais?
Crisse Merde Tabernacle, c'est beaucoup Sirop d'erable, non?

If true, it's certainly a very Canadian crime

[delivron]

Packaged in plastic quarts that would represent 278 trailer loads grossed out by weight. Somebody was sleeping at the gate.

[spud]

Poor Bruce Bascom is probably working overtime checking every one of his barrels to see if the bung hole bandits hit him to.:lol:

Spud

[CBOYER]

Syrup is probably sent to Guy mitchell, the Chef at the Withe House, he only use Québec Maple Syrup for all is cooking, since no other have the quality he need...

[CBOYER]

Comment dites on "insurance fraud" en francais?
Crisse Merde Tabernacle, c'est beaucoup Sirop d'erable, non?

If true, it's certainly a very Canadian crime

Christ, ****, tabernacle, why do you use those terms???

are you so poor in vocabulary, please go to night school...

Federation is an union, related to Qc Government, and insurance is Financiere Agricole, another gov. Agency...

[Vermonner]

I meant it only to be funny.
My pea brain didn't take into account our Quebec forum members.
Please accept my apology if you were offended.
I also don't need a scolding about night school from a stranger on the internet, thank you very much.

[halfast tapper]

Just had a friend send this to me. Totally nuts, if the warehouse was cleaned out we're talking 900,000 gal of syrup! That's gotta be most of the reserve I'd think?

If they are estimating 30 million dollars in syrup then that is about 100,000 gallons, Which over time would be able to be done. If it is 100,000 gallons thats about 15 to 17 trailer loads. Even though they check it doesn't mean they check to see if the barrels had anything in them. All they would have to do is leave the outside of the rows with syrup in them and stack the empty barrels behind them. If they knew when they check the warehouse they could easily do this.

[ennismaple]

If they are estimating 30 million dollars in syrup then that is about 100,000 gallons, Which over time would be able to be done. If it is 100,000 gallons thats about 15 to 17 trailer loads. Even though they check it doesn't mean they check to see if the barrels had anything in them. All they would have to do is leave the outside of the rows with syrup in them and stack the empty barrels behind them. If they knew when they check the warehouse they could easily do this.

Halfast tapper - I think you're off by a zero. At $30/gallon wholesale that would be a millions gallons of syrup missing. Even less likely to have walked away!

[halfast tapper]

Halfast tapper - I think you're off by a zero. At $30/gallon wholesale that would be a millions gallons of syrup missing. Even less likely to have walked away!

Whoops! There goes my awesome math skills again. Sorry.:emb:

[gmcooper]

There certainly are lots of rumurs going round about this. I keep hearing it was 1 tanker load and that is more plausable than the whole warehouse empty. I can't figure out why as soon as the police finished collecting evidence at the scene(assuming they did) why wouldn't the Federation have a crew in there imediately to determine how much syrup was missing. Any other business would want to know whether they were missing 1 load or 50 loads asap.

[Mark]

I heard that it was 1500 55 gallon drums missing.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Reportedly, a large amount of the syrup has been discovered south of the porder by the Quebec Provincial Police: http://www.laterre.ca/alimentation/du-sirop-recuperer-chez-loncle-sam/#.UKDzvkpCTZI.facebook

[CBOYER]

a litle translation from the french article:
"U.S. authorities have denied the Sûreté du Québec to take this syrup pretext that "weaken U.S. companies."

:o

[delivron]

Google French to English translation:

http://http://tva.canoe.ca/stations/chem/nouvelle/20121108.html

Astronomical amounts of maple syrup were stolen out of reach in the U.S.



The mystery surrounding the historic flight of 20 million maple syrup last August in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford in the Bois-Francs could soon be elucidated. Already several searches led to recoup some of the syrup, among other New Brunswick. Only downside for investigators astronomical quantities are carried out in the United States.
The Sûreté du Québec spotted maple syrup stolen from St. Louis to-Blandford warehouses of three companies in the United States. This is the comings and goings of trucks at customs and the testimony of truckers, who are led.

We have learned from reliable sources that fourteen trucks containing maple syrup were identified in the warehouse at Highland Sugarwork Vermont. Twelve were found in Maple always Grouve of farm in Vermont. The crime scene technicians were also identified between forty and sixty loads in the courtyard of Bascom in New Hampshire.

However, the police could not recover because the American authorities refuse to issue a search warrant on the grounds that it could undermine the market and lead to job losses.

For these companies, there is no concealment activities, but simply purchase balance syrup. In other words, they did not know it was stolen merchandise.

The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers did not return calls Thursday, but on Wednesday night, his deputy said to be in constant communication with the Sûreté du Québec to be made without all the information. He tried to understand why the U.S. authorities are doing so.

Neither defense counsel nor the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions have declined to comment. The RCMP has talked about a problem Intergovernmental which it has little power. But added that officers from the Sûreté du Québec and certain actions may, for example, to call Interpol. Recall that the robbery in August last in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford is estimated at over 20 million. Arrests are imminent. (Marie-Pier Cloutier)

[tuckermtn]

Something is fishy with the statement that the police will not issue a search warrant because it will harm those who bought the stolen syrup and it will cause job losses. I keep waiting for this to end like an old Scooby Do episode with someone pulling a mask off of one of the higher-ups in the Quebec syrup federation...

Nothing against the federation- but this just smells of an inside job.

[gmcooper]

Something is fishy with the statement that the police will not issue a search warrant because it will harm those who bought the stolen syrup and it will cause job losses. I keep waiting for this to end like an old Scooby Do episode with someone pulling a mask off of one of the higher-ups in the Quebec syrup federation...

Nothing against the federation- but this just smells of an inside job.

Well stated! All the news reports from Quebec on this all seem to get stranger. I know some of the details are probably lost in the translation but I think so far they are just fishing for someone to put this on. "40-60 trailer loads at Bascoms yard" that is fairly precise. All at once? or since spring? Maybe last year also?

Wonder why there is no mention of the person in charge of the warehouse that the syrup was supposed to be stored?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

There is an article in the New York Times this AM with some info on how the theft was carried out. Seems the syrup was only checked 2 times per year and part of the warehouse was rented out to someone else.

[Pibster]

Arrests have been made. Here is a link to the CTV news report.

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/police-make-arrests-in-the-great-maple-syrup-swindle-1.1083701?fb_action_ids=10152345996000082&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%2210152345996000082%22%3A498 857020158637%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210152345996000082%22%3A%22og .recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=[][/URL]

[Indiana-Jones]

I just came across this. It explains a bit on how the heist took place and raises a new issue about pricing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/20/why-maple-syrup-is-controlled-by-a-quebec-cartel/

[CBOYER]

Police had arrested near 20 peoples right now, including Mr St-Pierre from S.K. Export from New-Brunswick, that make the relay from Qc to New England...

Information are hard to find, since survey is not finish..

as i write in another post, security guards make run every day, but they found the thief when they make an inventory audit, that include to open and test syrup in random containers, and this is made twice a year.

Remember when you were teenage, and take some gin in your father bottle, and replace it with water... no ones know it up to the time your father serve himself a low alcool drink...:rolleyes:

[Dill]

Bloomberg business report has a great article on the theft this week. It was really odd to be reading about Bruce Bascom, Highland Sugarworks and all these other businesses in the same magazine that is discussing long term strategic debt in Japan. I can't seem to find the actual article on their website just pictures. But its a good read just keep an eye out.

[DrTimPerkins]

Bloomberg business report has a great article on the theft this week.

I agree....good article. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-02/the-great-canadian-maple-syrup-heist

[Dill]

Thanks for the link Tim, I couldn't find it.
There is just so much more to the story than a quick soundbyte. I think this will continue to be a big story for a while. At least for us.

[CBOYER]

THE best article so far..Thanks for the link..

[DrTimPerkins]

The Quebec Maple Syrup "Cartel" investigation continues....

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-february-28-2013/the-canadian-maple-syrup-syndicate

[spud]

That was very funny.:lol:

Spud

[Dill]

Thank you Tim, that made my morning.

[DrTimPerkins]

http://news.moviefone.com/2013/09/24/jason-segel-maple-syrup-heist-movie

The saga continues. You just can't make this stuff up.

[Jmsmithy]

This should be screened at Verona :lol: