Toni Musulin, the French security guard who became an Internet icon when he disappeared with €11.6million (£10.3million), gave himself up yesterday after 11 days on the run.

He turned himself in to officers in Monaco, who handed him over to their counterparts in France.

''He seemed quite bizarre when he gave himself up,'' said a police source in Monaco. ''We don't understand his motivations. We don't even knew if he really realised he was in Monaco.''

The description seemed to undermine French police attempts to portray the 39-year-old guard as a highly sophisticated criminal who would have tested the brains of Inspector Maigret.

In circumstances more worthy of Inspector Clouseau, it emerged that Interpol had neglected to issue a proper international warrant for Mr Musulin, meaning that officers in Monaco were unable to place him under arrest.

They had to secure his agreement before driving him — without handcuffs — to le Jardin Exotique, an exotic garden on the border with France, where he was formally placed under arrest by French police.

Mr Musulin, who was employed by Loomis, the Swedish security group, vanished with 49 sacks of banknotes from Lyon, central France, this month.

He drove off with the van when the two colleagues accompanying him went into their office.

Investigators at first thought that he had been taken hostage, but realised their mistake when they discovered that he had emptied his flat and bank account a few days earlier.

Mr Musulin — who had an unblemished employment record at Loomis — became a star on the internet, with a Facebook group hailing his achievement.

But his status waned when police discovered a garage he had rented under a false identity containing €9.1million.

It was not clear whether he had told police where he had stashed the remaining €2.5million after giving himself up.

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