Maple syrup seized in Quebec theft probe to be released

A New Brunswick maple syrup exporter is getting some of his product back this week after it was seized by police as part of a high-profiletheft investigation.

The Quebec Provincial Police and RCMP raided tienne St.-Pierre's business, S.K. Export Inc. in Kedgwick, inSeptember. They werelooking for$30 million worth of maple syrupstolen from a warehouse northeast ofMontrealduring the summer.

"They took everything, about 15 trailer loads they took over to Quebec," said St.-Pierre, estimating he lost about$2 million worth of product.

But he says his lawyer has convinced a Quebec judge to release some of the maple syrup, which St.-Pierrewill bring back to New Brunswick at his own expense.

"Iwent to get a lie detector test in MontrealI paid myself for that because my lawyer said, 'If you take a lie detector, you'll be ahead a little bit,' and that's what I did," he said.

May seek compensation

St.-Pierre is now considering seeking compensation fromthe Sret du Qubec and the Quebec Federation of Maple Syrup Producers.

He contends the federation is trying to put him out of business because he buys surplus syrup from Quebec producers without going through the organization. He then exports the product to England, Germany and the United States.

The federation represents the province's 7,500 producers and administers a bulk sale system with quotas on individual operations.

Police officials have declined to comment until the investigation is complete.

In October, Quebec provincial policeexecuted a second search warrant in connection with the case. Theyseized hundreds of barrels of maple syrup from a warehouse in the Saint-Nicolas neighbourhood of Lvis, just south of Quebec City.

It is not clear who was storing the maple syrup. The building's owner had told CBC News the warehouse was leased to maple syrup distributors who owed him money.

In August, thieves stole maple syrup from a warehouse in St-Louis-de-Blandford, about 160 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

The warehouse held about 3.4 million litres of bulk maple syrup, which belonged to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers.

The heist was discovered when officials noticed a large number of storage barrels were empty.

If the entire warehouse's contents were stolen, it would represent more than a tenth of Quebec's 2012 harvest. Quebec produces three-quarters of the world's maple syrup.