Mail loses messages moved into IMAP folders

I use IMAP from a linux server with local synchronisation and "retain local copy" and regularly read email from at least 2 different macs and also using WebMail.
For an IMAP folder to contain subfolders, it cannot also contain mail.
When trying to drag and drop to a folder (rather than a mailbox) Mac Mail correctly disallows the action. Also, when cntrl-clicking and selecting "Move To", if the folder is open (ie already expanded) then the folder is not selectable as a target.
However, if the folder is closed (collapsed) in the drop-down menu, it is possible to move the message into the folder. This is easy to do by accident!
Looking in the local copy of the IMAP folder, I can see that there is now a Messages folder in the folder. For a while, I can find the moved message using a search, but "show in mailbox" gives an empty mailbox. However, this Messages folder is not synchronised onto the IMAP account (as the mailbox format is different on the IMAP server and the local IMAP copy on the mac) and so at some point it is deleted during synchronising with the server and the moved mail message is lost with no warning.
If droppping onto a closed folder were correctly disallowed in the "Move To" contextual menu, this would not happen. I think this must be a bug - is anyone else experiencing this, or is it just me? and is there a way or retrieving messages lost in this way?
iMac (intel)   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

Whether it's a bug or not, I'm not sure. It certainly looks like it is, but the way Mail handles mailboxes within mailboxes is more complicate than it seems.
is there a way or retrieving messages lost in this way?
If the cached copy Mail keeps locally is still on your disk, yes. In the Finder, go to HOME/Library/Mail/IMAP-username@mailserver/. How many folders named after the IMAP folder where the messages where dropped do you see there? Is there one with an .imapmbox suffix and another without the suffix, or only one of these?

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