Quebec provincial police have seized hundreds of barrels of maple syrup from a warehouse in the Saint-Nicolas neighbourhood of Lévis, just south of Quebec City.

It's the second search warrant police have carried out since Quebec's maple syrup producers' federation alerted authorities to the theft of 16,000 barrels of maple syrup — worth an estimated $30 million — from a storage facility in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford in August.

It is not clear who was storing the maple syrup in the Saint-Nicolas warehouse.

The building's owner, who did not want to be named, said the warehouse had been leased to maple syrup distributors, adding that they owed him money.

Stéphane Tousignant, who works at a neighbouring building, said the current tenants had been there about a year.

Neither the police, nor the producers' federation would comment on the latest find.

Dozens of barrels could be seen neatly stacked against a wall, before police investigators shut a garage door to block them from view.

Police used a forklift to load the barrels onto an 18-wheeler truck throughout the day on Friday. A second truck arrived after the first was filled and driven away.

Earlier in October, police seized 660 barrels of maple syrup in New Brunswick.

If indeed the syrup seized in both raids proves to have been stolen from the emptied vats, that leaves the vast majority — some 15,000 barrels of syrup — still missing.