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London Cops Sniff Out $390,000 Artisanal Cheddar Cheese Thieves

Police say they have made an arrest.

A speciality cheesemonger may be closer to establishing the identity of the stinker who moved their cheese—without paying for it—after British police said they had arrested a 63-year-old man in connection with the theft of 22 tons of top-quality cheddar from Neal’s Yard Dairy. The theft grabbed headlines worldwide after the celebrated artisanal food dealer sent 950 cloth-bound wheels of cheese to fraudsters last month when an elaborate scam conned them into believing they were dealing with a legitimate wholesale distributor. The hot cheese may have been smuggled to far flung markets in the Middle East or Russia, some reports have claimed. Tom Calver, a cheesemaker who had 432 wheels of cheddar weighing 10 ton swiped in the heist told The Telegraph that he hoped the story of the robbery capturing headlines “would lead to some kind of justice.” He added: “The artisan cheese world is a small one and there is no other like it. Our industry is built on long-standing relationships where there is always trust and integrity in every sale. To feel like that such an old, traditional artisan product as our raw milk cheddars is being targeted is incredibly concerning.”