David Aleksander Toska (born 18 September 1975) was the alleged "mastermind" behind the "

NOKAS robbery On 5 April 2004, at 8am the Nokas Cash Handling (formerly Norsk Kontantservice AS or NOKAS) in Stavanger, Norway was raided by heavily armed men. It was the biggest-ever heist in Norway. Although the police had intelligence that a raid was e ...

" in Stavanger on 5 April 2004, one of the most profiled criminal cases in modern

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

history. The robbery resulted in the killing of a police officer, a very rare occurrence in Norway. Toska was born in Bergen and moved to

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

in 1985. He attended school at Ullevål and then

Bjølsen Bjølsen is a neighbourhood in the Sagene borough in central-northern Oslo, Norway. Originally a farm in the former Aker municipality, it was incorporated into Christiania (now Oslo) in 1878. It has been sawmill and mill operation as far back as t ...

. His criminal career began before he turned twenty, as he was arrested for a robbery in Ullevål where a car was driven into a shop window. In 1996 he was arrested for carrying a loaded weapon in a bar in Oslo. Police searched his home, where they found an

MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

sub-machine gun, explosives and tools for committing robberies. He is considered the mastermind behind the break-in at

Norsk Medisinaldepot Norsk Medisinaldepot AS is a pharmaceutics and healthcare products wholesaler in Norway. It also operates the pharmacy chains Vitusapotek and the franchise chain Ditt Apotek. NMD is part of the Celesio group and has a total of 185 pharmacies i ...

19 November 2000, the safe-deposit box robbery at Bryn 1 October 2001, the commando-style robbery of Postens brevsentral 27 October 2003 and the NOKAS robbery 5 April 2004. He admitted his involvement in the deposit robbery at Bryn and the Medicinal Depot, was committed, but later

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

because of questionable motives and plausible coercion by the police. Emptying the bank boxes in 2001 brought out about

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

20 million in values. A security employee, by the order of the police, fed Toska information, and so the police were said to have made possible and facilitate both robberies. The robbery of NOKAS is arguably Norway's most famous robbery. The robbers killed a police officer and got away with approximately NOK 56 million. Following the robbery the police started the most extensive investigation in modern times and focused all their forces on unraveling a snarl of suspected syndicate crime. Toska was arrested in Málaga,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on 5 April 2005. In the NOKAS-trial against Toska he and his accomplices confessed to participation in the robbery, but not to the killing. On 5 March 2006, Toska was sentenced to 19 years in prison. In August 2017, Toska was allowed to serve his prison time at home in Bergen. Toska was involved in discussions with police for the return of the paintings ''

The Scream ''The Scream'' is a composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The agonized face in the painting has become one of the most iconic images of art, seen as symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition. Munch's work, including ...

'' and '' Madonna'', which had been stolen from Oslo's

Munch Museum Munch Museum ( no, Munch-museet), marketed as Munch (stylised as MUNCH) since 2020, is an art museum in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The museum was originally located at Tøyen, w ...

on Sunday, 22 August 2004. Oslo police refuse to say how they were able to recover the paintings.

References

Other sources

* Mulkerrins, Jane
£5m heist: Why US and why here?
''Times Online.'' 1 September 2004.
NOKAS verdicts fall.
''Aftenposten.'' 10 Mar 2006.
Presseekspert om TV 2s Toska-valg: – Smakløst
''VG'' January 17, 2022.
Bank robber joins chess broadcast
''chess24.com'' January 17, 2022.

External links

''Stolen: Catching the Art Thieves''
at bbc.co.uk/iplayer {{DEFAULTSORT:Toska, David 1975 births Living people NOKAS robbery 20th-century Norwegian criminals 21st-century Norwegian criminals Norwegian male criminals Criminals from Oslo Norwegian bank robbers Norwegian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Norway