A SECURITY van driver who became an unlikely internet star after allegedly driving off with more than €11 million from the Banque de France in Lyons remained at large yesterday, despite a major Europe-wide police search.
Police suspect the driver, Tony Musulin (39) of making off with €11.6 million in his armoured van while his colleagues were still inside the bank on a routine stop-off last Thursday.
They initially feared he had been taken hostage, but soon found that the driver had cleared his fridge, emptied his flat of papers and withdrawn all the money from his bank accounts.
“We were surprised to discover an apartment which was almost unoccupied, almost cleaned up, as if he had prepared his getaway,” said Lyons prosecutor Xavier Richaud.
More than €9 million in cash has been recovered, but the authorities admit they have no idea where the thief – whom they believe acted alone – may have fled.
“He could be in the Lyons area, but he could also be in a neighbouring country,” Mr Richaud added.
As news of the heist spread in recent days, the suspect’s audacity in striking against the banks was being celebrated on dozens of newly created Facebook pages and alongside YouTube clips, where visitors gushed praise and encouragement.
Many likened his act to a performance. “No gun, no hate, no violence . . .”
“Great art! Bravo!” read one message. “When will there be a film on Tony?” asked an admirer.
As of yesterday, a number of websites were selling T-shirts, mugs and badges in tribute to what one site called “the heist of the century”, while another entrepreneur had started taking bets on the date of his capture.
“I love my job”, read the slogan on one batch of T-shirts. Comparisons were drawn with Albert Spaggiari, a French criminal known as the man behind a famous break-in at a Société Générale bank in Nice in 1976. Spaggiari evaded capture for the rest of his life.
Mr Richaud told a press conference yesterday that police had recovered €9.15 million in cash in a Renault Kangoo in a garage in the city’s eastern suburbs, near where the security van used in the theft had been found. The thief had shown “a mixture of professionalism and amateurism”, he added.
With the suspect still at large, police were on the lookout at all major airports as well as French border points.
Interpol also sent a notice of the search to national police forces across the continent.
Musulin’s former girlfriend told TF1 television that the security firm employee led a simple life but that he “loved nice things”.
“He was very careful with money,” said the woman, who manages a bar in a Lyons suburb.