St-Pierre also admitted he had long been an opponent of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, and resented their control of the market. The syrup was then re-branded and made to appear as if it was from New Brunswick, not Quebec. Vallières said the man told him, "I know where you live." The heist was only discovered when a routine inventory check in July 2012 turned up an empty barrel that was supposed to be full of syrup. The Great Maple Syrup Robbery made headlines around the world four years ago. And, even if some sick bastard wanted to, what would he carry it away in? The investigation was headed by the Sûreté du Québec police, which was soon joined by the Royal Mounties and U.S. Customs. Vallières told the court that, in the industry, he's known as a "barrel roller," someone who buys and sells syrup directly from producers in Quebec, bypassing the federation. But witnesses called by the Crown painted him as one of the ringleaders of the heist. The elaborate caper saw 3,000 tonnes of syrup go missing from a warehouse belonging to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers — the regulatory body that controls and manages the syrup trade. Of the 26 people arrested in connection to the heist, some pleaded guilty, charges were dropped against others, and more trials are coming. A man described as one of the ringleaders in the 2012 theft of $18.7-million worth of maple syrup has been found guilty by a jury in Trois-Rivières, Que. He allegedly cooked up the conspiracy and is to go on trial in January. It was filled with maple water as it comes from the tree, before it’s been boiled into syrup, butter, taffy. "You can't prove what tree the syrup came from," St-Pierre told the jury.
– It was an epic heist and the most Canadian crime ever, to boot: Back in 2012, thieves stole 540,000 gallons of maple syrup worth at least $13 million. It was nothing less than mind-boggling, writes Rich Cohen at Vanity Fair. "It felt less like a crime than a prank, what you might do to your brother if you were all-powerful and he had a lot of syrup." But as his long feature explains, it was indeed serious business, and at the heart of the strange tale is a group he likens to the OPEC of the syrup world: the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers. Quebec makes 72% of the world's maple syrup, and the federation keeps an "ironfisted" control over the precious stuff, he writes. How precious? At $1,300 a barrel, maple syrup is worth roughly 26 times more than oil. And while the federation's policies have kept prices high, they also may have led to what the piece calls "one of the greatest agricultural crimes in all of history." Critics liken the group not just to OPEC but, as one rogue producer puts it, to "the mafia." The federation keeps prices stable by maintaining a gigantic reserve of maple syrup and thus controlling supply. It was this reserve that thieves began stealing from in a months-long scheme. They'd remove barrels of syrup from a warehouse, siphon out the syrup, replace it with water, then replace the barrel. A warehouse worker finally noticed something was amiss in July of that year, and international headlines ensued. (The reputed ringleader was found guilty last month.) The full story has more details on the heist and the great detective work that followed, along with a primer on the world of syrup that includes this nugget: While Quebec makes 72% of maple syrup, the US has far more maple trees, meaning that "if the Americans ever make the push to self-sufficiency, French Canada is cooked." Read it here.