Paul Fyfield, 56, was charged on Thursday over the $1.1 million theft from a cash delivery van at Sunshine Plaza.

The gym operator and kick-boxer once trained AFL star Barry Hall, and now runs the Fight Fit gym in South Melbourne.

He appeared in court for a short filing hearing on Friday.

Magistrate Tim Gattuso varied his bail slightly so he only needed to report twice a week to Oakleigh Police Station instead of three times.

His passport was also surrendered and he was ordered to not contact witnesses for the prosecution.

According to documents tendered to court, police allege Mr Fyfield made a false document to induce a VicRoads employee to give him a driver's licence in the name of Colin Francis Lynch almost a decade earlier.

It's not clear from those documents what Mr Fyfield is alleged to have done using the false driver's licence.

The case was adjourned until May 6.

Mr Fyfield, known by his associates as "The General", has connections to underworld figure and Bandidos associate George Zakharia, who he would visit once a week during Zakharia's stint in jail for an armed robbery.

Mr Fyfield, of Chadstone, was arrested in Highett at 9.45am on Friday.

A house in Burton Street, Chadstone, was also searched with a quantity of illegal steroids, suspected drugs and cash seized.

The Armaguard van was parked outside Ferguson Plarre Bakehouse in Sunshine Plaza in 2006 when it was ambushed while unattended by guards.

At the time, it was reported that $2 million had been stolen. A Perth man was also charged in relation to the theft in 2014.

In 2014, Armaguard offered a $300,000 reward to solve the crime, and two other significant thefts.

The arrest is part of an ongoing investigation by detectives from Operation Tideland, who are probing a $4 million Richmond road gang robbery of 1994.