I like to imagine police had been following these guys for weeks after noting suspicious behavior, but were unable to crack the criminals' presumed code, "they

I like to imagine police had been following these guys for weeks after noting suspicious behavior, but were unable to crack the criminals' presumed code, "they keep talking about a big cheese heist and taking lots of cheddar - but what's the target, is it a bank or a museum or a jeweler?" Nope, they were just talking about stealing cheese.