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Police solve mystery of boat abandoned in Swedish harbour for two years after wealthy owner comes forward to say he forgot about it

The wealthy owner has finally come forward to claim the luxury boat and explained the reason he hasn't used it for two years: He forgot about it

Rob Williams
Thursday 27 March 2014 11:33 GMT
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According to Expressen GT newspaper the boat, which is thought to be worth as much as $108,000 (£65,000), remained at the dock in Stromstad for at least two years, puzzling both the workers at the port and the police.
According to Expressen GT newspaper the boat, which is thought to be worth as much as $108,000 (£65,000), remained at the dock in Stromstad for at least two years, puzzling both the workers at the port and the police.

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For at least two years the luxury boat was untouched at a dock in Stromstad, Sweden. No one used it, no one reported it stolen and police enquiries, including an appeal on Facebook, had proved fruitless. Until now.

The wealthy owner has finally come forward to claim the luxury boat and explained the reason he hasn't used it for two years: He forgot about it.

According to Expressen GT newspaper the boat, which is thought to be worth as much as $108,000 (£65,000), remained at the dock in Stromstad for at least two years, puzzling both the workers at the port and the police.

Police described the apparent abandonment of the boat, which was moored almost directly opposite the police station, as extremely rare and very strange.

The documents on board, which included several papers and a diary, were dated from 2008 and showed that the boat was Norwegian - but provided police with little clue as to who owned the vessel.

In a bid to locate the owner the police took to Facebook, in a post entitled: 'WANTED - Stromstad Police need help in finding the owner of a Rinker Fiesta Vee 342 which has been at a dock in Stromstad for at least 2 years.', they detail how the keys to the cabin were tied to the railings and ask readers for help in solving the mystery of the abandoned boat.

The owner of the boat finally came forward on 26 March and will now have to pay for the removal of the boat from the wharf as well as pay harbour fees for two years, a cost, that according to Expressen GT newspaper, he can apparently afford.

He told police he'd been trying to sell the boat and thought he had done. He had then simply forgotten about the vessel. "You have to be very wealthy to be able to forget about a boat in this price range," Swedish police inspector Tomas Andersson told the paper.

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