Thieves made off with 48,000 pounds of award-winning cheddar from artisan cheese seller

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 48,488 pounds of award-winning cheddar worth $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 $16.70 for 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 22-pound and 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.