No whey! Thieves make off with over 1,500 kilos of cheese

Thieves broke into the store of De Zuidgeest cheese farm in Bergen op Zoom early on Tuesday morning and stole some 13 thousand euros worth of cheese. The peculiar thieves got away with between 130 and 150 cheeses, each weighing about 12 kilograms, Omroep Brabant reports.

In addition to the cheeses, the thieves also took jewelry, a laptop, a pair of hand knitted socks and one of the family's vehicles, which they used as a getaway vehicle. They also slashed the tires of every other vehicle on the property.

"Who would do such a thing, this is terrible", owner Marjo Huijsmans said to the broadcaster. The cheese shop is located on the same property as the Huijsmans family's home, but nobody saw or heard anything. The damage was only noticed on Tuesday morning when the family started getting ready for the day.

"This could not have happened at a worse time. It takes at least six weeks before we can sell a cheese as young cheese. We can never make up for it before Christmas", Huijsmans said, adding that at least not everything was stolen. The smaller and more expensive cheeses were left behind. "We can still help customers reasonably well and where it fails, they understand the situation. The reactions we are getting are downright heartwarming."

The police performed and extensive trace evidence investigation, but so far it hasn't yielded anything helpful. Police spokesperson Willem-Jan Uytdehage called the theft "quite bizarre".