Police in Brantford, Ont., are searching for two men who slipped away from a grocery store with $1,200 worth of butter.
The theft happened on Oct. 29 at about 8:25 p.m. from a grocery store at Lynden Road and Wayne Gretzky Parkway, Brantford Police Service said in a news release.
The suspects were caught on security cameras and are described by police as wearing all black clothing, including black baseball hats.
They fled the scene in a white van, said police.
This is not the first large quantity of butter to be stolen in southern Ontario in recent months, but police don’t know if the cases are connected.
Nine thefts have been reported to Guelph police in the last year, said spokesperson Scott Tracey.
“It’s certainly unusual but there is an organized aspect to it,” Tracey told CBC News.
Watch | Butter stolen from Guelph grocery stores
Police in Guelph, Ont., say there have been seven ‘large-scale’ butter thefts over the last 10 months, including two in October. The most recent cases resulted in losses of more than $900 each.
The stolen butter ends up on the black market, or on resale websites, but is difficult to track, said Guelph police.
Sylvain Charlebois, a Dalhousie University professor who studies food distribution, said along with it being “particularly easy” to resell, butter also freezes well for a long time — making it a hot commodity for thieves.
Butter retail prices have shot up in recent years. For example, a brick sold for $4.20 on average in Ontario in August 2020, according to Statistics Canada. A brick now sells for $5.74.
The latest theft happened in late October when two men placed four cases of butter worth over $950 in a cart and walked out an emergency exit, Guelph police said in a news release.
“Butter continues to be a hot commodity for thieves in Guelph,” the statement said.
As of Tuesday, no arrests have been made in that incident, Tracey said.
Guelph and Brantford police are asking anyone with information to contact investigators or Crime Stoppers.