Quebec police seize large stash of maple syrup

Quebec police have seized a large stash of maple syrup that could be linked to a massive robbery of the breakfast sweetener in August, sources said Thursday.

The sticky liquid -- worth an estimated $1 million -- was seized from a warehouse of exporting company S.K. Export in Kedgwick, New Brunswick, and whisked away in 11 trucks, lawyer Yvon Arseneau told AFP.

The seizure represents just a sliver of the theft that occurred on August 24 in Quebec's Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, estimated to be worth some $20 million.

Empty barrels were found at a warehouse there that had held some 4.5 million kilograms (10 million pounds) of syrup, indicating that the thieves had emptied syrup into other containers to sell the prized sweetener on the black market.

Provincial police said at the time that they had opened an investigation into the theft, adding that the stolen syrup could be worth millions of dollars.

Quebec police declined to confirm that the syrup stemmed from the missing cache, saying only that the seizure was made in connection with the heist.

But according to Arseneau, the police team operating in New Brunswick consisted of chemists, which could suggest they examined syrup's "DNA."

An S.K. Export representative denied any responsibility.

Julienne Bosse-Desrosiers told AFP that she had bought the syrup from a Quebec supplier with whom she has worked for several years.
"We never bought stolen syrup," she said.

Quebec, the so-called Saudi Arabia of syrup, produces 70 to 80 percent of the world's supply of the popular sweetener and had been expected to help cover additional demand after a poor US harvest in 2012.

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