The Hamilton Spectator reports that it seems like it would be an open-and-shut investigation, but $2 million worth of construction equipment reported stolen in Caledonia last week is anything but.

“This is equipment that has been used to develop stolen land for how long?” Six Nations land defender Skyler Williams said on Thursday. “That equipment, as (well) as any other equipment, is proceeds of crime, as far as I’m concerned.”

Williams was speaking generally about the cost of the stolen excavators juxtaposed with “the estimated $2.5 trillion of stolen land” they are fighting to protect at the McKenzie Meadows construction site.

Police say the equipment in question was used by “unknown suspects” late Oct. 22 or early Oct. 23 in the area of Highway 6 bypass — between Argyle Street and Greens Road — “causing significant damage” to roads. That is the night barricades were erected in the area after a judge upheld injunctions barring access to the occupied construction site and putting up barricades in Haldimand County.

A section of Highway 6, as well as McKenzie Road in front of the occupied land, were dug up with excavators. A damaged school bus was placed across the road at one of the barricades.

Const. Rod LeClair of the Haldimand County OPP told The Spectator the machinery was reported stolen on the morning of Oct. 23. He said the owner of the equipment is not being identified at this time.

At least seven construction equipment items were stolen, including a John Deere backhoe and bulldozer and road grader, a Hitachi excavator, a Volvo excavator, a Caterpillar compaction roller and portable traffic lights, OPP say.

The total estimated value is $2,125,000.