Frenchman crashes stolen car with €90,000

A Frenchman driving around with €90,000 in a stolen BMW is in lock-up , after crashing the vehicle into a traffic sign during a failed get-away attempt Sunday night. In a press release that sounded much like a scene from a cheap gangster movie, police say the Frenchman’s car was spotted driving on Brienenoord Bridge in Rotterdam. They flagged him down, but he sped off doing 120 km/h toward the A20, and police officers set chase. The chase ended near the exit to the highway when the man’s erratic driving sent the BMW crashing into a traffic sign. Though his car was a total loss, the man still tried to climb out of the window to get away from police. He was arrested before he got out, but it soon became clear he had been trying to escape because of the bags with unexplainable money he was driving around with. Police say the money amounted to almost €90,000.

Police say that during the chase they had already realized that the car itself had a suspicious scent; the number plates did not correspond with the kind of vehicle they were chasing. It turned out that the BMW had been reported stolen in France. Inside the car the officers found several other number plates. The money was confiscated and the driver, who miraculously escaped harm during the crash, was detained. The 37-yer-old faces charges for car theft, theft of number plates and money laundering.