Con Man Steals Nearly 50K Pounds of Cheese

Scotland Yard is on the case in London
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 27, 2024 8:00 AM CDT
Con Man Steals Nearly 50K Pounds of Cheese
   (Getty / Odu Mazza)

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 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 this week, per the AP. "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. 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.

(More cheese stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X