Two men from Quebec are facing charges related to alleged thefts of used cooking oil from restaurants in eastern Ontario.

Provincial Police Const. Melissa Bouchard says the force has recently received at least two complaints that cooking oil was going missing from disposal bins outside local businesses.

The recent arrests in the cases came Monday morning when police responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle outside a restaurant in Embrun, Ont.

A 39-year-old from Montreal and a 46-year-old from Laval, Que., are facing five charges each, including two counts of theft under $5,000.

Bouchard is urging local restaurants to check their supplies of used cooking oil and come forward if they believe any has gone missing.

She says the motive for the alleged thefts appears to be financial, saying used cooking oil is believed to be worth a fair amount of money, although she did not specify why.