The great British cheese heist: Who stole $390,000 of cheddar?

EXPLAINER

Some of the ‘best cheddar food successful the world’ has been stolen from a distributor successful London – but who dunnit and how?

When creation and scams travel together, it’s usually paintings and sculptures that marque the news. However, successful a unusual crook of events, Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor and retailer of British food based successful London’s Borough Market has been defrauded of 300,000 pounds ($389,000) worthy of award-winning, cloth-bound artisan cheese.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “On Monday, 21 October, we received a study of the theft of a ample quantity of food from a shaper based successful Southwark. Enquiries are ongoing into the circumstances.”

Some of the food stolen has received galore awards, including Westcombe cheddar, Hafod Welsh integrated cheddar and Pitchfork cheddar, which are sold for arsenic overmuch arsenic 45 pounds ($58) per kilogramme (2.2lb).

According to a connection from Neal’s Yard Dairy, “The precocious monetary worth of these cheeses apt made them a peculiar people for the thieves.”

“The institution is present taking steps  to guarantee some its fiscal stableness and the continued improvement of the British artisan food sector.”

The incidental has caused alarm and upset among high-end foodies successful the United Kingdom. The personage cook Jamie Oliver told his 10.5 cardinal Instagram followers: “There has been a large food robbery. Some of the champion cheddar food successful the satellite has been stolen.”

Pitchfork cheeses connected show astatine Borough Market successful London [Shutterstock]

How did the food robbery happen?

A blase scammer posed arsenic the cause of a respected French distributor renowned successful Europe’s food commercialized for organising large artisanal food events. After fooling Neal’s Yard Dairy into handing implicit the cheese, the thief made disconnected with 950 cheddar wheels weighing 24 tonnes.

The fraudsters presented a meticulously crafted agreement, implicit with broad outgo conditions, to Neal’s Yard. The expected typical displayed an extended cognition of the industry, adding legitimacy to the ruse.

Patrick Holden, who owns the workplace wherever Hafod cheddar is produced, told the BBC: “The robbers asked Neal’s Yard to dispatch it to different warehouse successful oregon astir London, from which it was past collected by these nefarious people, and past it disappeared, truthful they cleverly covered their tracks.”

“It mightiness dependable naive to autumn unfortunate to a scam, but the information is that the artisan food satellite is simply a spot wherever spot is profoundly embedded successful each transactions,” Holden said.

Tom Calver, a manager of Westcombe Dairy, a supplier of high-quality cheese, told reporters: “We’re devastated that this fraud has targeted 1 of our astir valued customers.”

Where is the food now?

No 1 tin beryllium definite wherever the food is now, but Holden told the BBC: “‘I deliberation they’re hoping to merchantability it successful the Middle East oregon Russia. That’s my guess.”

He explained that different countries wherever the shaper already sells a ample magnitude of Hafod food are not apt destinations. He added: “If they tried to merchantability it successful North America, wherever we merchantability a batch of Hafod, oregon adjacent Australia, judge it oregon not, the balloon would spell up due to the fact that radical would inquire questions.”

Neal’s Yard Dairy is requesting that different food distributors study immoderate sightings of clothbound cheddar wheels weighing 10kg (22lb) oregon 24kg (53lb) with the tags detached to the police.

Cheese tags amusement the root of a cheese. If they person been removed, this whitethorn suggest the food is being sold connected the achromatic market, which is illegal.

What happens next?

The institution is moving with instrumentality enforcement agencies to place the fraudsters. According to the authorities, nary arrests person been made.

Neal’s Yard Dairy has honoured its payments to guarantee the affected cheesemakers volition not beryllium near retired of pocket.

“By sharing our experience, we anticipation to assistance support the wider assemblage of tiny producers and distributors, and to guarantee the continued improvement of this captious and delicate sector. We anticipation to person the accidental to collaborate with manufacture groups, different distributors, and retailers to found amended safeguards successful this area,” Neal’s Yard Dairy said successful a statement