NIZHNY NOVGORD, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - Police in the west Urals are searching for a security guard who stole 250 million rubles ($8 million), a local police spokesman said on Friday.
The theft, one of Russia's largest, took place at about 12:00 p.m. local time (06:00 GMT) on Thursday. Alexander Shurman, 36, was one of three guards carrying cash for Russia's largest bank Sberbank.
Threatening to shoot his colleagues, he forced them to stop the vehicle in a forest, and transferred the money to another vehicle driven by accomplices.
"A search is underway," the spokesman said.
A $10,000 reward has been announced for any information leading to Shurman's arrest, and an investigation has been launched. Over 50 police investigators are involved in the hunt.
A police source told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid that Sberbank security guards had had their wages cut last month.
"Carrying huge sums daily and hardly making ends meet - anyone would go nuts," the source said.
Neighbors said Shurman, who has two children, one with a second wife, did not drink or smoke and played tennis and went running every morning.
