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CRIME

Gambler ‘couldn’t help’ staking bank’s money

A 29-year-old Swedish gambler has been charged with aggravated fraud after a security failure allowed him to play, and lose, 700,000 kronor ($90,000) of his bank's money.

The 29-year-old from Gothenburg was busy gambling online on a November night in 2006 when he discovered that he could obtain unlimited credit from his bank to stake in the game.

The man made a series of transfers, one totalling 70,000 kronor, which he then promptly gambled away.

He was able to make the withdrawals as a security check at Swedbank’s internet bank was temporarily out of order.

According to the prosecutor, the man is not suspected of having any knowledge that the bank was experiencing problems with its security at the time.

The Gothenburg gambler was not alone in having made use of the fault and several other people have, independently of each other, managed to obtain credit.

The 29-year-old has admitted the fraud.

“He has understood that he has committed a crime but says that he couldn’t help it,” said district prosecutor James von Reis to news agency TT.

LANDSLIDE

Swedish authorities: Worker negligence behind motorway landslide

Swedish authorities said on Thursday that worker negligence at a construction site was believed to be behind a landslide that tore apart a motorway in western Sweden in September.

Swedish authorities: Worker negligence behind motorway landslide

The landslide, which struck the E6 highway in Stenungsund, 50 kilometres north of Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg, ripped up a petrol station car park, overturned lorries and caved in the roof of a fast food restaurant.

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Prosecutor Daniel Veivo Pettersson said on Thursday he believed “human factors” were behind the landslide as “no natural cause” had been found during the investigation.

He told a press conference the landslide had been triggered by a nearby construction site where too much excavated material had been piled up, putting excessive strain on the ground below. 

“At this stage, we consider it negligent, in this case grossly negligent, to have placed so much excavated material on the site,” Pettersson said.

Pettersson added that three people were suspected of among other things gross negligence and causing bodily harm, adding that the investigation was still ongoing.

The worst-hit area covered around 100 metres by 150 metres, but the landslide affected an area of around 700 metres by 200 metres in total, according to emergency services.

Three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the collapse, according to authorities.

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