The high-value, award-winning cheeses, which also include Westcombe and Pitchfork, are sold for as much as £45 per kg.
The fraudsters posed as an agent of a French supermarket in order to receive the 22 tonnes of clothbound cheeses from the Southwark-based company without paying for it, Mr Holden said.
“The robbers asked Neal’s Yard to dispatch it to another warehouse in or around London, from which it was then collected by these nefarious people and then it disappeared, so they cleverly covered their tracks.”
Confirming that the cheese had already been removed from the warehouse, Mr Holden said: “I think they’re hoping to sell it in the Middle East or Russia, that’s my guess.
“Because people won’t ask questions there. I think if they tried to sell it closer to home they’d find it difficult because the international artisan community is very connected,” Mr Holden said.
“If they tried to sell it in North America, where we sell a lot of Hafod, or even Australia believe it or not, the balloon would go up because people would ask questions.”
Neal’s Yard Dairy said it was working law “international authorities” to identify the scammers.
