Lost in the post at Draguignan

At this point in the investigation it is assumed that whoever dumped them was looking for gifts of money sent in the run up to Christmas. An enquiry has been launched to find out from which post office the four crates of abandoned letters came from and whether it was an inside job.

This latest incident follows the arrest at the end of December of a postal worker in Toulon who is believed to be behind the disappearance of some 13,000 letters over a period of several years. Sacks of mail discovered in his apartment revealed that he focused on birthday and Christmas cards, as being the ones most likely to contain a bank note.

Last month in the Alpes-Maritimes, six post office employees were among 30 people taken into custody over the disappearance of some one thousand parcels reported missing, particularly between the distribution centre in Cavaillon and the office in Villeneuve-Loubet. Police managed to recover hundreds of items, mainly hi-fi, radio and telephone equipment. CL