Thieves make off with $4K in garlic from Quebec farm

A Quebec farm was the target of a bizarre theft that left its owners out $4,000.

But, the loss wasn’t cash or machinery. These thieves made off with thousands of garlic bulbs.

Christiane Massé went out to her field in St-Malo, located in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, earlier this week and found 2,000 garlic bulbs had vanished.

"Why would someone want to steal garlic?" Massé said. "I imagine it not just to eat when it’s as much as that."

The theft wouldn’t have been simple. The garlic wasn’t locked up, but was out in the field drying. However, the volume stolen would have meant it would have taken more than one load.

"If it’s in the field, we can’t do anything to secure it," she said. "It’s a total loss."

It’s not the first time Quebec food producers have been targeted by thieves.

Last winter, someone managed to get away with close to $140,000 worth of corn from a silo on a farm in Saint-Léonard-d'Aston,130 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

In December, two people were arrested in connection with an $18 million maple syrup theft from a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford.

Police are now investigating the garlic theft, but Massé won’t be getting compensation from her insurance company. That’s because the goods weren't locked up.

She does plan on installing surveillance cameras to deter future thefts.