Mysterious French Thieves Stole $43,000 Worth of Cheese

In perhaps the most delicious heist in recent history, Eater reports that a mysterious band of French robbers made off with more than 8818 pounds of Comté cheese last week.

The dastardly dairy theft occurred in the country’s Goux-les-Usiers region, which is in Doubs in eastern France. According to the Telegraph, French police were called after the bandits weaseled their way through a store's barbed-wire fence and used a crowbar to break into the establishment. They swiped about 100 wheels of Comté, which officials believe they’ll likely try to sell on the black market. (Yes, a dairy black market exists; cheese is the most stolen food product in the world, and is often re-sold to other markets or restaurants.)

It goes without saying that Comté cheese is delicious—but it’s also valuable. The hard aged cheese is a luxury product, and it’s made using unpasteurized cow’s milk in France’s Franche-Comté region. It reportedly sells for 40 euros, or $43 US, per pound.

In fact, food theft can be quite a profitable enterprise. In 2012, six million pounds of maple syrup were stolen from a warehouse in the small Canadian town of Saint-Louis-de-Blandford. (The sticky goods were apparently worth $18 million.) The following year, thieves in Germany pilfered $20,710 worth of Nutella from a trailer in Bad Hersfeld. Garlic, Muenster cheese, and Kellogg's breakfast cereal have also been snatched in large—and lucrative—quantities. Suffice to say, crime is sometimes more colorful than your ordinary bank robbery ... and way more calorific.