LONDON (AP) -- Thieves with a nose for fine cheese have pulled off a massive cheddar ripoff in London.

Neal's Yard Dairy said a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer had made off with 22 metric tons (48,488 pounds) of award-winning cheddar worth 300,000 British pounds ($390,000) before the company realized it had been scammed and reported the theft on Monday.

"The high monetary value of these cheeses likely made them a particular target for the thieves," Neal's Yard Dairy, a distributor, wholesaler, and retailer of British artisanal cheese, said in a statement.

Detectives at Scotland Yard and international authorities are searching for the culprits.

Nearly 1,000 wheels of cloth-wrapped cheese from three makers have gone missing: Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar, and Pitchfork cheddar.

The dairy sells a wedge of Hafod cheddar for 12.90 pounds ($16.70) for 270 grams (9.5 ounces).

Tom Calver, a director of Westcombe Dairy, said a lot of work went into making the cheese that was aged 12 to 18 months.

"We're devastated," Calver said. "For that to be stolen ... it's absolutely terrible."

Neal's Yard Dairy has asked international cheesemongers to be on the lookout for the stolen cheese, particularly in 10-kilogram (22-pound) and 24-kilogram (52-pound) blocks.

It says it has paid all three cheesemakers in full, in keeping with its ethos of supporting small independent businesses developing the British cheese sector.