’Twas the night before activism this week, when members of a Canadian group allegedly donned Santa suits and elf costumes and made off with roughly $3,000 in groceries in a holiday-themed grocery store heist.

Photos and videos shared on social media show alleged members of Robins des ruelles, or Robins of the Alley, filling reusable bags and shopping carts with food at a Metro store on Laurier Avenue in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough Monday around 9:15 p.m., then dashing through the door without paying.

In an Instagram post, the Robins des ruelles said four masked “Santa Clauses” and a “swarm of elves” redistributed the alleged stolen goods after the symbolic “food drive” to community fridges across Montreal and under a Christmas tree in Place Valois.

“A handful of corporations are holding our basic needs hostage. They continue to exploit the population, siphoning off as much money as possible, simply because they can. For us, that’s what constitutes theft, and they are the real bandits,” the post, translated from French, read.

However, grocery store officials didn’t see the heist as such a festive act.

“No matter the reason, it is unacceptable and a criminal act,” Metro spokesperson Geneviève Grégoire told CBC News in a statement. ”Retail crime resulted in losses of $9.2 billion in Canada in 2024. Many factors influence food inflation, including disruptions in the global supply chain, volatility in commodity prices, changes in international trade conditions, and retail crime.”

Grégoire also reminded the public about Metro’s 2025 donations of $1.15 million to food banks and additional food contributions.

The incident occurred on the same day Statistics Canada reported that grocery prices hit their highest inflation in nearly two years in November, with food costs rising 4.7 percent year-over-year, outpacing the overall 2.2 percent inflation rate.

Montreal police said they are reviewing videos of the incident, but no arrests had been made as of Thursday, according to CBC News.