LONDON: Thieves with a nostril for high-quality cheese have pulled off a large cheddar ripoff in London.
Neal’s Yard Dairy stated a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a serious French retailer had made off with 22 metric tons of award-winning cheddar price £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 doubtless made them a specific goal for the thieves,” Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor, wholesaler, and retailer of British artisanal cheese, stated in a press release.
Detectives at Scotland Yard and worldwide authorities are trying to find the culprits.
Practically 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, stated loads of work went into making the cheese that was aged 12 to 18 months.
“We’re devastated,” Calver stated. “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, significantly in 10kg and 24kg blocks.
It says it has paid all three cheesemakers in full, consistent with its ethos of supporting small unbiased companies growing the British cheese sector.
