Call the Mounties: Rising maple syrup prices lead to thefts

The high price of maple syrup is leading to some sticky crimes in Quebec, Canada, where someone recently broke into a sugar shack and stole eight barrels of maple syrup worth $16,000 to $18,000.

The 15,000 liters is so valuable because the cost of a can of maple syrup has gone up to $10 from $6 last year, due in part to reduced production last season, according to a story at CBC News in Canada. The shortage is so bad that we've named Maple Syrup one of the new items on our list of 25 Things Vanishing From America.

"This year, it is going to be a hot commodity, that's for sure; the price is very high," said Richard Birkholm, an investigator with the Quebec Provincial Police.

"The criminals always think of something that will be a hot commodity that they will sell quickly," Birkholm told CBC News.

Producers are being extra vigilant in keeping their sugar safe, including taking it home instead of leaving it at a camp in the woods, or keeping the shack under lock and key and blocking the door with a pickup truck.