I can't live without maple syrup. That sweet, gooey treat we all love to drizzle over our pancakes in the morning.

But anyone who's bought a bottle recently will know that it's just as expensive as it is delicious.

With that being said, can you guess how much a whole barrel of the sticky stuff is worth?

$100? $200? Well, it actually reaches a whopping $1,800, so it's practically liquid gold.

And its sky-high value hasn't gone unnoticed by criminals and crooks.

So much so that one of the biggest heist in history saw almost $20 million worth of the sticky stuff

swip from under the maple syrup industry's

nose.

But how was so much stolen without anyone noticing?

Who would steal it?

And where did it end up?

To find out, grab a plate of waffles and prepare to get stuck into one of the most bizarre

heist stories in history.

It all began back in July 2012.

Astute accountant Michal Govro was performing a routine check of the massive maple syrup reserve that's stored in a warehouse in Quebec, Canada. And yes, you did hear

that correctly, the International Strategic Reserve houses approximately 8,500 tons of maple

syrup at any given time and is essential to controlling the price of the golden goo.

Wow!

However, as Gowbrow climbed up one of the towering stacks of syrup barrels, a barrel suddenly teetered and nearly gave way underneath him.

Govero held on for dear life, but after recovering his balance, he discovered something impossible.

The barrel that had almost sent him toppling to his doom was empty.

And upon checking more of the containers, he found that they were empty too, or filled with

...