Russian police said Tuesday they had detained an "international criminal gang" that produced contraband cheese worth some $30 million using banned Western ingredients, AFP reports.
Russian officials are currently waging war against produce from the West prohibited under a year-old embargo introduced in retaliation for sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine. Authorities earlier this month started bulldozing piles of cheese, peaches and even frozen geese after President Vladimir Putin ordered the destruction of food smuggled in illegally.
Now police in the Moscow region say they have arrested six people for producing cheese worth some $30 million using 470 kilograms (1,000 pounds) of banned Western rennet, a substance containing enzymes used for cheese production.