Thieves in Brabant have stolen hundreds of cheeses from at least three dairy farms over the past few months, local broadcaster Omroep Brabant reports.

Earlier this week, 150 cheeses were taken from a dairy farm in Bergen op Zoom and three weeks ago 88 cheeses were taken from another local producer. In both cases, the thieves used identical methods and took the cheeses away using wheelbarrows, Omroep Brabant says.

In September, 200 cheeses were taken from a dairy farm’s storage unit in Genderen. ‘The thieves knew what they were up to,’ Mieke van den Heuvel, owner of the De Lange Hoeve dairy farm, told the broadcaster.

‘They took cheese at different stages of maturity,’ Van den Heuvel said. The theft was captured on camera which showed the loot being driven away in a white van.

The broadcaster said the theft of cheese can be extremely lucrative. In September, parmesan cheese valued at €1m was stolen in Italy and €400,000 worth of Comte cheese was stolen in France last month.