Artisan cheese seller in a pickle after thieves made off with massive cheddar haul

By The Associated Press

FILE - Clothbound Cheddar is pictured, on Feb. 18, 2008, in Concord, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Larry Crowe, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Larry Crowe]

LONDON (AP) — Thieves with a nose for fine cheese have pulled off a massive cheddar ripoff in London.

Neal’s Yard Dairy said a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer had made off with 22 metric tons (48,488 pounds) of award-winning cheddar worth 300,000 British pounds ($390,000) before the company realized it had been scammed and reported the theft on Monday.

“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 British artisanal cheese, said in a statement.

Detectives at Scotland Yard and international authorities are searching for the culprits.

Nearly 1,000 wheels of cloth-wrapped cheese from three makers have gone missing: Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar, and Pitchfork cheddar.

The dairy sells a wedge of Hafod cheddar for 12.90 pounds ($16.70) for 270 grams (9.5 ounces).

Tom Calver, a director of Westcombe Dairy, said a lot of work went into making the cheese that was aged 12 to 18 months.

“We’re devastated,” Calver said. “For that to be stolen … it’s absolutely terrible.”

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 British cheese sector.