Canadians are once again causing drama south of the border due to their love of cheaper American prices.

A photo of a man with a British Columbia licence plate stirred up controversy in Bellingham, Wash., because it appeared to show him filling up what looked like large duffle bags inside plastic garbage bags with gasoline.

The woman who took the photo told local media that the man filled three plastic-lined duffle bags at the Fred Meyer gas station in Bellingham, which is located about 50 kilometres south of the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Abbotsford B.C.

After a Seattle television station broadcast the story, online comments began pouring in.

One person wrote, “A hockey puck to the head would be the only reason for this behavior,” while another commenter posted, “Stay in Canada – please.”

According to WashingtonGasPrices.com, the cost of regular gas in Bellingham ranges from US$3.92 to US$4.29 per gallon, which is the equivalent to about US$1.03 to US$1.13 per litre in Canada.

While the photographs don’t show the man pumping gas directly into the bags, the woman who took the photos said she saw him pump gas into the bags, seal them and put them in the back of his car, which had B.C. plates.

Police called such a move “dangerous.”

“You run the risk of all sorts of potential, if there was an impact or anything like that,” said Sgt. Mark Dennis of the Washington State Patrol. “And you simply wouldn’t want to have loose gasoline inside of a car.”

It’s the second time this week that Canadians have been accused of behaving badly in Bellingham.

A video of frantic customers ransacking a pallet of milk in a Bellingham Costco quickly became a YouTube sensation. It also sparked the creation of a Facebook page asking for separate shopping hours for Canadians and Americans.

The page was started by an apparently disgruntled resident of Bellingham, complaining that it had become nearly impossible to shop at a local Costco due to the high volume of Canuck bargain hunters.

An early post reads: "You all been there. its hard to find a parking spot. Them Canadians can be rude. The lines are crazy. We aren't on a vacation and have an RV to hang out in like those Canadians. We just want to go shopping, not go on an adventure (sic)."

As of Saturday the page had more than 4,770 likes.

With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Shannon Paterson