Did you know that Canada once witnessed one of the strangest food crimes in modern history? Between late 2011 and mid-2012, nearly 9,600 barrels (about 3,000 tonnes) of maple syrup disappeared from the International Strategic Reserve in Quebec. The syrup was valued at close to 19 million Canadian dollars. It belonged to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, which had established the reserve in 2000 to stabilise prices. The reserve worked much like a safety net for the global maple industry, storing syrup in surplus years and releasing it when harvests fell short. Thus, the act of stealing from the Federation was no small crime. The story of how it unfolded is quite fascinating:
How Did The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist Start?
The plot to steal the syrup began with an insider. One of the thieves had family ties to the warehouse where the reserve was stored. They realised that the facility in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford had surprisingly weak security. There were no alarms, no cameras, and only periodic inspections. From there, the plan took shape. At first, the barrels were quietly removed from the warehouse, taken to a sugar shack, and drained. They were then returned filled with water, or left light enough to pass unnoticed. Eventually, as the scheme grew bolder, the group began siphoning syrup directly inside the facility.
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What Happened To The Stolen Maple Syrup?
Once removed, the stolen maple syrup was transported to other provinces and even across the border into the United States. It was sold in smaller batches to unsuspecting distributors, mixing illicit supplies into legitimate channels. This made the syrup nearly impossible to trace and allowed the operation to continue for months without attracting attention.
Maple Syrup. Photo Credit: iStock
How Were The Thieves Discovered?
The ruse came to an end in July 2012 during a routine inspection. An inspector climbed onto a barrel expecting the usual heavy weight but nearly toppled over. The barrel was suspiciously light. Further checks revealed that many others had been tampered with or drained completely. By December of that year, police had arrested more than a dozen people connected to the crime.
The ringleader, Richard Vallieres, was eventually sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 9.4 million Canadian dollars. His accomplice, Avik Caron, whose spouse co-owned the warehouse, was sentenced to five years and fined 1.2 million dollars. Others, including distributors and transporters, received varying prison terms and financial penalties. Appeals followed, but in 2022, Canada's Supreme Court upheld the original fines, ruling that they must reflect the full value of the stolen syrup.
Fictionalised Accounts Of The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist
'The Sticky' series.Photo Credit: amazon.com
The maple syrup heist has been featured in documentaries, including an episode of Netflix's series Dirty Money, which explored the crime in detail. More recently, it inspired a comedic retelling in the Amazon Prime series The Sticky, which reimagines the theft with dark humour and fictionalised characters while still drawing on the bizarre real events. The series highlighted just how unusual it was for such a traditional food product to be at the centre of a multimillion-dollar crime.
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The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist continues to amaze people around the world because a scheme to quietly steal an item like maple syrup turned into one of the most valuable agricultural crimes ever uncovered.