LAVAL, Que. - Apparently, the market for 72,000 kilograms of deboned chicken is fairly limited.

So limited that Laval police say four men alleged to have illegally plucked a tractor-trailer full of the merchandise from a parking lot unwittingly tried to sell it back to the very person who originally owned it.

A police spokesman says the truck was destined for Toronto when it disappeared from a Montreal parking lot on Monday.

The next day, the owner of the plundered poultry received a call asking if he wanted to buy deboned chicken at $4.50 a kilo.

The owner, suspicious of the offer, agreed to meet with the men, but not before telling Laval police about the meeting on Tuesday night.

Const. Franco Di Genova says the owner identified the chicken from the logos on the boxes — about 350 of cases of which were recovered.

Police arrived within minutes to make the arrests in the fowl felony.

Four men between the ages of 27 and 54 face charges of possessing stolen goods and were released on a promise to appear at a later date.

The tractor-trailer has not been recovered.