News - Cheese-loving thieves steal 22 tons of cheddar worth $390K

Thieves with a nose for fine cheese have pulled off a massive cheddar ripoff in London, reports AP. Neal’s Yard Dairy said a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer had made off with 22 tons (48,488 pounds) of award-winning cheddar worth 300,000 UK pounds ($390,000) before the company realized it had been scammed and reported the theft. “The high monetary value of these cheeses likely made them a particular target for the thieves,” Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor, wholesaler, and retailer of UK artisanal cheese, said in a statement. Detectives at Scotland Yard and international authorities are searching for the culprits. Tom Calver, a director of Westcombe Dairy, said a lot of work went into making the cheese that was aged 12 to 18 months. Neal’s Yard Dairy has asked international cheesemongers to be on the lookout for the stolen cheese, particularly in 10-kilogram (22-pound) and 24-kilogram (52-pound) blocks. It says it has paid all three cheesemakers in full, in keeping with its ethos of supporting small independent businesses developing the UK cheese sector.