Police come up dry in case of missing suds
WebPosted Aug 20 2004 01:39 PM EDT

FREDERICTON — Dos mas cerveza, por favor! The moose is truly loose – 54,000 cans of Moosehead lager have gone missing on their way to Mexico.

The tractor-trailor load of Moosehead beer hasn't arrived at its destination and police across Canada are looking for the driver – and the beer.


The lager is packed in plastic holders of six

Police were alerted after the truck failed to turn up Monday at a depot in Toronto.

The trailer was found – empty and running – in the McDonalds parking lot in Grand Falls.

There was no sign of the beer, nor the driver, 30-year-old Wade Haines. There are no signs of struggle or foul play.


One side of the label is printed in Spanish

The truck is owned by Brenway Transport of Fredericton, but the company has no comment.

Joel Levesque, spokesperson for Moosehead, describes the loss.

"Inside the trailer were 4,200 dozen cans of Moosehead lager. And because it was destined for Mexico, the labelling on the side was English and Spanish on the reverse side."

Levesque asks the public to be attentive. "If someone offers you a cold Moosehead in a can that has Spanish on it, the beer is hot."

RCMP Sgt. Gary Cameron says they want to hear from anyone who sees a Spanish Moosehead can.

"If it is here in New Brunswick, it will be detected very rapidly because of the Spanish writing on the Moosehead cans, which is a rarity."

"That's why we're saying, if it does stay in New Brunswick, if people do see it, to contact the RCMP immediately."

The beer is worth about $75,000.

Haines is described as a white male, 6-foot, one-inch tall and weighs 200 pounds. He has a medium build, a light/fair complexion, with hazel eyes, short brown hair and a brown goatee.

Police are not calling Haines a suspect, says Cameron. "At this time we consider Mr. Haines as a person of interest. We are trying to locate him to make sure that he's OK, he's safe and also to ask him questions about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the cans of beer."

Cameron says Haines has no fixed address, but lives in the Fredericton area and has worked for Brenway Transport for several months. Haines does have a criminal record.

It is the job of Pierre Vaillancourt of Criminal Intelligence Service New Brunswick to analyze criminal activity, including organized crime, and to look for trends.

Vaillancourt says with Haines still missing, he can't say for sure that organized crime is involved in the theft, but he says it does have some of the hallmarks.

"It kind of has that signature. That's a fairly big heist, I guess. Usually they're involved in things that are quite profitable and that would be, that would be the case in this instance."

Anyone with information is asked to call the RCMP or Crimestoppers.