A young Scotsman working as a postal carrier in Frankfurt failed to deliver the mail for over a year and hoarded or disposed of at least 20,000 letters, police said.
The 23-year-old employee of a private postal firm told authorities he was overworked and opted to collect the envelopes in his apartment or throw them away rather than bring them to their addressees, authorities said in a statement.
He was caught when a neighbor in Frankfurt saw him dumping stamped envelopes, catalogs, circulars and packages into a garbage container.
PHOTO: AP
The woman grew suspicious because she had seen the Scot do the same thing with dozens of letters before and noticed overflowing mailbags in the basement of their apartment building. She alerted the police and the firm that employed the man.
A search turned up post in his wardrobe, under his mattress and in other nooks and crannies of his flat.
He then led police to the storage cellar where they found more sacks and boxes full of parcels and envelopes addressed to recipients including law offices, hospitals, tax authorities and private citizens.
Police estimated that at least 20,000 letters entrusted to the man had not reached their intended recipients, including a few letters addressed to the Scot himself.
“The 23-year-old had not opened any of the letters but simply stored them so he would not have to deliver them,” the statement said.
“The young man stated that he was attending night school to earn his high school diploma and found it too overwhelming to carry the mail on top of that.”
He now faces possible charges of theft and misappropriation of mail.(AFP)
德國警方表示,一名在法蘭克福擔任郵差的蘇格蘭青年,過去一年都不曾遞送過郵件,至少有兩萬封信件被他私藏或丟棄。
警方在一項聲明中表示,這位任職於一家私人郵遞公司的二十三歲雇員向警方表示,他的工作太繁重,因此才會選擇把這些信件堆放在居住的公寓或丟棄,沒有遞送到收件人手中。
某天住在法蘭克福的他把貼有郵票的信函、商品型錄、廣告傳單和包裹等郵件丟進垃圾桶時,正好被鄰居撞見。
這位女士起了疑心,因為她以前也看過他丟棄許多信件,還在他們住的公寓地下室見到許多裝滿郵件的郵袋。於是她報了警,並通知這家郵遞公司。
搜查後發現,他的衣櫥裡、床墊下面,以及公寓其他隱匿的角落都藏有郵件。
接著他帶警方到儲藏地下室,他們在那裡發現更多裝滿小包裹和信函的麻布袋和箱子,這些郵件的收件人包括法律事務所、醫院、稅捐機關和一般民眾。
警方估計,這名男子至少隱匿了兩萬封信件沒有交到收件者的手中,其中還包括幾封寄給他本人的信件。
聲明中指出:「這位二十三歲的男子沒有拆封任何信件,只是把它們藏起來,這樣他就不必一一投遞。」
「這位年輕人聲稱他正在夜校就讀,打算取得中學畢業證書。但他發現,要同時兼顧學業和工作實在讓他不堪負荷。」
現在,他可能面臨竊盜罪及侵吞郵件罪的指控。
(法新社�翻譯:袁星塵)
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