Police in Nova Scotia are investigating the theft of a tractor-trailer carrying more than 18,000 kilograms of snow crab in a container sprayed with a dangerous chemical.

Police say the 2007 Freightliner was reported stolen from Nova Truck Centre on Barker Lane in Westville on Sunday.

Police are warning people that the crab was to be shipped to Japan and is in a container laced with a preservative, which is not harmful to crab but can be lethal if consumed.

They say the green truck has the number 29 on both corners of the hood, a red and black coloured G on both doors and has Glencoe Mills Trucking Ltd. on it.

It has the New Brunswick licence plate number PTW 079.

Its white trailer is 12 metres long, has the letters NYK in blue and the Nova Scotia licence plate PT 58845.