During prohibition in the 1920s, Americans relied on Canadian booze smuggled across the border to get their drink on.  Today, with the country hit by a heavy drought (Hurricane Isaac notwithstanding), it looks like they might be turning to our nation to illegally meet their needs… for maple syrup.  At least, that’s one of theories advanced by the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec (FPAQ), who just saw a massive amount of the sweet stuff ripped off from a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, a rural area roughly 25 clicks north of Victoriaville.

According to QMI Agency, a whopping 16,000 45-gallon barrels of syrup, worth 1,800 bucks a piece, have been drained of their contents—an impressive feat considering that you can only fit about 90 barrels of syrup into a tractor-trailer.  And even if the warehouse is located “in an isolated area at the end of the road,” it reportedly can be seen from the Trans-Canada Highway.  But hey, when the mob needs toppings for its pancakes, chances are they’ll stop at nothing to get them.

Of course, we don’t know that the maple-syrup mafia is necessarily involved, as no suspects have been identified at this time.  That said, «Il est crucial que les responsables de ce vol soient identifiés» (Translation: “It’s crucial that those responsible for this robbery are identified”) FPAQ president Serge Beaulieu told local paper La Nouvelle Union.  Hmm, perhaps if they sweeten the pot, they’ll see sweet-tooths coming out of the woodwork like bees to syrup…