--- title: 10 Arrested in Italian Thieves' Wine and Cheese Caper description: "Operation Wine and Cheese" cracked down on a ring of alleged thieves who stole about a quarter million dollars in gourmet foodstuffs. canonical: https://time.com/4708421/operation-wine-and-cheese-arrested/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-21T21:10:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:06.795Z og:title: 10 Arrested in Italian Thieves' Wine and Cheese Caper og:description: A quarter million dollars of gourmet products were stolen by the thieves. og:url: https://time.com/4708421/operation-wine-and-cheese-arrested/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b38a4c0739e9d2/6988bf4acf40a873e2c46ea1/wine-and-cheese.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cheese wine bread og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Arrested in Italian Thieves' Wine and Cheese Caper twitter:description: A quarter million dollars of gourmet products were stolen by the thieves. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b38a4c0739e9d2/6988bf4acf40a873e2c46ea1/wine-and-cheese.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 10 Arrested in Fancy Wine and Cheese Heist  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 21, 2017 9:10 PM UTC  Andrew Unangst—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 21, 2017 9:10 PM UTC In what’s being considered one of the biggest [“wine and cheese busts”](http://globalnews.ca/news/3324145/police-in-italy-arrest-10-in-operation-wine-and-cheese/?utm%5Fsource=%40globalnewsto&utm%5Fmedium=Twitter) in recent Italian history, a group of ten people have been arrested by police for stealing more than $250,000 in fine wines and gourmet cheeses. They were apprehended in the northern city of [Modena](http://time.com/3678555/worlds-best-new-restaurants/), known for its [top-notch but endangered](http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/business-and-economy/2016-12-27/parmesan-cheese-makers-up-investments-by-15-mn-over-next-four-years-to-fight-crisis--134641.php?uuid=ADfg29KC) [parmesan production](http://time.com/4226321/parmesan-wood-pulp/); a single wheel of the valuable, pungent cheese can sell for [up to $500](http://globalnews.ca/news/3324145/police-in-italy-arrest-10-in-operation-wine-and-cheese/?utm%5Fsource=%40globalnewsto&utm%5Fmedium=Twitter). Operation Wine and Cheese, as this sting is [being called](http://globalnews.ca/news/3324145/police-in-italy-arrest-10-in-operation-wine-and-cheese/), aimed to find and bring to justice a set of people whose expensive taste in vintage bottles and savory dairy products ran far beyond just a casual _aperitivo_ party or a spread of antipasti. In fact, the lucrative market for parmesan in particular is open knowledge in its home region of Emilia-Romagna. At least $7 million in cheese has been stolen in the last two years alone, [according to CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thieves-in-italy-targeting-precious-parmiggiano-reggiano-to-score-big/) and Italy’s parmesan consortium. (Because the large wheels must be aged for a year and are often stored in rural environments, the warehouses can become targets for a theft.) Italian [news outlets report](http://www.ansa.it/emiliaromagna/notizie/2017/03/21/furti-vino-e-parmigiano-scoperta-banda%5Fdce94541-dfe0-4040-be8b-4825293c9a1c.html) that the team of organized criminals apprehended in this new sting were responsible for stealing an alleged 16,000 bottles of wine—worth about $140,000—and 168 wheels of parmesan, adding up to about $110,000. It remains unclear who, ultimately, got to enjoy the delicious score. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4708421/operation-wine-and-cheese-arrested/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4708421/operation-wine-and-cheese-arrested/"},"headline":"10 Arrested in Fancy Wine and Cheese Heist","datePublished":"2017-03-21T21:10:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:06.795Z","description":"A quarter million dollars of gourmet products were stolen by the thieves.","url":"https://time.com/4708421/operation-wine-and-cheese-arrested/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b38a4c0739e9d2/6988bf4acf40a873e2c46ea1/wine-and-cheese.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b38a4c0739e9d2/6988bf4acf40a873e2c46ea1/wine-and-cheese.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cheese wine bread","caption":"Cheese wine bread","creditText":"Andrew Unangst—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4708421/operation-wine-and-cheese-arrested/","name":"10 Arrested in Fancy Wine and Cheese Heist"}}]}] ```