A 63-year-old man was arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police this week for his purported role in defrauding a British cheese vendor and stealing over 24 tons of cheddar.
The suspect told retailer Neal’s Yard Dairy that he was a wholesale distributor for another retailer in France and ordered more than 950 wheels of the cheddar, which was delivered before the shop uncovered the deceit, Neal’s posted on Instagram.
The suspect, whom the Metropolitan Police haven’t publicly named, was taken in on suspicion of fraud through false representation and handling stolen goods before being released on bail, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement Thursday, according to USA Today.
The cheddar cheese was worth around $390,000, according to the BBC. Despite being defrauded, Neal’s did pay its artisanal suppliers in full for the false order.
“It might sound naive to fall victim to a scam, but the truth is that the artisan cheese world is a place where trust is deeply embedded in all transactions. The breach of trust by this fraudulent customer is a violation of the atmosphere of good faith and respect. … It’s a world where one’s word is one’s bond,” Patrick Holden, one of the suppliers, said in a release from Neal’s.
Neal’s Yard Dairy asked other cheesemongers in its Instagram post to reach out to the store or the police if they were offered or given a 12- or 24-kilogram wheel of cheddar cheese bound with cloth with the tags detached, as those wheels could be their stolen stock.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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