Move over cheese bandits, butter is now the order du jour.
Two Vancouver men are facing charges of theft under $5,000 after allegedly stealing a shopping cart full of butter worth more than $1,400 in Coquitlam.
Their names have not been released.
鈥淪tealing a large amount of butter is a little unusual, but we see this sort of thing with similar food products鈥� Coquitlam RCMP Corp. Michael McLaughlin said in a news release. 鈥淭hings like cheese, meat, and baby formula can easily be sold on the black market. On the other hand, it鈥檚 possible these suspects were choosing the wrong way to get a head start on their Christmas baking.鈥�
While McLaughlin鈥檚 quotes may seem flaky on the surface, there鈥檚 ample to evidence to back his claims.
by the Courier鈥檚 sister publication Vancouver Is Awesome uncovered what Vancouver Police Department Const. Jason Robillard characterized at the time as a 鈥渂lack market鈥� for stolen fromage.
Evidently cheese is being stolen and then re-sold on the Downtown Eastside and other parts of town, too.
Video proof had even surfaced at the time of a VPD officer returning stolen cheese to a cashier at the Nesters Market in Gastown.
Oh my gouda.
But back to our butter bandits.
The two men, aged 23 and 25, were arrested outside a supermarket on Lougheed Highway around 6:30 p.m., Nov. 14.
One of the men has even made a habit out of his bias for butter, as he鈥檚 a suspect in at least three other butter thefts around Metro Vancouver in recent months.
鈥淎n employee actually recognized one of these suspects because he had a bit of a reputation as a butter thief,鈥� McLaughlin said. 鈥淗e was a bit slippery to catch but you know what they say; butter late than never.鈥�
@JohnKurucz
