Cold, hard criminals or cheese-liberating Robin Hoods? You may have to be the judge on this one.
This past Tuesday, Russian officials have arrested a gang of cheese-smuggling gang that reportedly profited around $30 million by illegally importing banned varieties.
This crew of six were caught with 470 tons of cheese from other countries, which, since Russian President Vladimir Putin instituted a ban on western food products, is highly illegal. Police said the cheese had been repackaged and was being passed off as being of higher quality than it actually was, but many believe the crew may have just been bringing the cheeses that the Russian people truly wanted to buy.
"It was established that since March, cheese rennet banned for imports to Russia was brought to the Moscow region," police spokeswoman Yelena Alexeyeva said in a video released by the Interior Ministry. "The goods were reorganized at the warehouses and given fake labels of the world's leading producers of natural cheeses.”
Just last month, Deli Market News reported on a similar incident where a single man smuggled 1,000 pounds of illegal cheese into Russia. Reportedly, the man missed the western cheese so much, that the entire half-ton was intended to be for personal use.
If convicted, all six suspects could face up to a decade behind bars in Russian prison.
