German postal worker stole 29,000 letters in 15 years

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BERLIN (AFP) — A woman who worked for the German postal service has been suspended after police found 29,000 undelivered letters at her home, a prosecutor in the western town of Giessen said on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Reinhard Huebner told AFP some of the letters date from 15 years ago, but most were mailed in the past five years.

He said the woman appears to have kept them because she hoped to find money inside, but investigators did not yet know how much cash the pile of correspondence yielded.

Huebner said she will face charges of "breach of professional secrecy and the postal code" and risks up to five years in jail if found guilty.

A spokesman for the postal service, Thomas Kutsch, said all the letters will be passed on to their original destinations.

The letters will be accompanied by a note presenting our apologies to our clients," said Kutsch.

"The vast majority of people who work for us are honest and reliable and are also disappointed about what has happened," he added.