LONDON: Thieves with a nostril for advantageous cheese have pulled off a large cheddar ripoff in London.
Neal’s Yard Dairy mentioned a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a significant French retailer had made off with 22 metric tons of award-winning cheddar value £300,000 (US$390,000) earlier than the corporate realised it had been scammed and reported the theft on Monday (Oct 21).
“The excessive financial worth of those cheeses seemingly made them a selected goal for the thieves,” Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor, wholesaler, and retailer of British artisanal cheese, mentioned in an announcement.
Detectives at Scotland Yard and worldwide authorities are looking for the culprits.
Almost 1,000 wheels of cloth-wrapped cheese from three makers have gone lacking: Hafod Welsh natural cheddar, Westcombe cheddar, and Pitchfork cheddar.
The dairy sells a wedge of Hafod cheddar for £12.90 (US$16.70) for 270g.
Tom Calver, a director of Westcombe Dairy, mentioned a number of work went into making the cheese that was aged 12 to 18 months.
“We’re devastated,” Calver mentioned. “For that to be stolen … it is completely horrible.”
Neal’s Yard Dairy has requested worldwide cheesemongers to be looking out for the stolen cheese, notably in 10kg and 24kg blocks.
It says it has paid all three cheesemakers in full, in line with its ethos of supporting small impartial companies growing the British cheese sector.
