Police try to crack the ‘grate cheese robbery’ after $389K worth of cheese stolen

Police in London have a queso to crack — who stole 950 wheels of award-winning artisanal cheeses?

The cheese isn’t your standard Aldi’s variety. It was made by Neal’s Yard Dairy and was the winner of three awards in the cheese-making world. The value of the filched fromage was more than $389,000, The Washington Post reported.

The cheese weighed 22 metric tons, The New York Times reported.

The dairy said that the person who took the cheese pretended to be “a legitimate wholesale distributor for a major French retailer” and the cheese were “the most sought-after artisan cheeses” in the U.K. The scam started in July, the Times reported. The cheese was sent in two shipments in September with final payment due on Oct. 7. Neal’s Yard Dairy realized it was a scam on Oct. 21 after they were not able to contact the “buyers” for weeks.

They were Hafod Welsh Organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar and Pitchfork cheddar, some of which started production three years ago when using specific feed for the animals that produced the milk to make it.

“The amount of work that’s gone into nurturing the cows, emphasizing best farming practice and transforming the milk one batch at a time to produce the best possible cheese is beyond estimation,” Tom Calver, director of Westcombe Dairy, said in a statement shared by Neal’s Yard Dairy to the Post.

Trethowan Brothers which supplied the Pitchfork variety, told people on Instagram, to keep their “ears and eyes peeled for good cheese going cheap.”

The BBC reported that a 63-year-old man was arrested but has been released on bail as the investigation continues.

This isn’t the first time cheese was the target of thieves, the Times reported.

In 2015 a gang stole $875,000 worth of Parmigiano-Reggiano in Italy. In 2016, a trailer of cheese worth $46,000 was stolen in Wisconsin. Finally, $23,000 worth of cheese was stolen in the Netherlands in 2022.

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