Odd food heist gone wrong: Thieves steal 2,500 pies, leaving 'so much waste'

In an unusual food heist gone wrong, authorities in the United Kingdom recently recovered a stolen van filled with 2,500 pies.

A Christmas market in York was the destination for the vehicle filled with steak and ale pies, a turkey, and a butternut variety.

"Help find the pies. Let's try and recover them and feed some people."

Banks urged the thieves to "do the right thing" and donate the stolen pies to a community center to prevent waste.

Banks lamented the loss of the savory pies, which were left in the stolen van and too damaged to be eaten or sold, he confirmed.

"The amount of waste is overwhelming. It's just trash," Banks stated in an Instagram video. "Unfortunately, this story does not have a happier conclusion."

A group of thieves posing as a wholesale distributor stole over 950 wheels of English cheddar in October, making the pie incident one of the few unusual food heists in the United Kingdom this year.

The estimated value of the stolen cheese was $390,000. Residents were asked to keep an eye out for "clothbound Cheddars in a 22-pound or 52-pound format with the tags removed."