David Toska

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David Aleksander Toska (born September 18, 1975) was the alleged "mastermind" behind the so-called "NOKAS robbery" in Stavanger on April 5, 2004, one of the most profiled criminal cases in modern Norwegian history. The robbery resulted in the death of a policeman, a very rare occurrence in Norway.

Toska grew up in Oslo and attended Bjølsen School. 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 they found an MP5 sub-machine gun, explosives and tools for committing robberies. He is considered the mastermind behind the break-in at Norsk Medisinaldepot November 19, 2000, the safe-deposit box robbery at Bryn October 1, 2001, the commando-style robbery of Postens brevsentral October 27, 2003 and the NOKAS robbery April 5, 2004.

He admitted his involvement in the deposit robbery at Bryn and the Medicinal Depot, was committed, but later acquitted because of questionable motives and plausible coercion by the police. Emptying the bank boxes in 2001 brought out about NOK 20 million in values. A security employee, by the order of the police, fed Toska with information, and so the police was said to make possible and facilitate both robberies.

The robbery of NOKAS is 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 hornets nest of suspected syndicate crime. Edvard Munch's paintings The Scream and Madonna were stolen August 22, 2004 by three no-ones. All clues as to who might have ordered the theft seemed to run dry after a few links, clues and hints. Toska was arrested in Malaga, Spain on April 5th 2005, exactly one year after the robbery of NOKAS.

In the NOKAS-trial against Toska he and his accomplices confessed to participation in the robbery, but not to the killing. On March 5, 2006 Toska was sentenced to 19 years in prison. August 30, 2006 Munch's paintings returned almost unscathed. Police refuses to say a word about where they found the paintings, nor whom they might suspect. No arrests were said to be made nor any reward for tips having been paid. M&M however, pledged to pay out 40.000 bags of chocolate candy to whoever might have facilitated the rescue of Munch's paintings.

Toska is considered an excellent chess player, and won several school tournaments as a child. In 1989 finished fourth in the Norwegian Youth Championship. He defeated the now International Master Helge Nordahl in a sharp sacrificial game, and Knut Bøckman, annotating the game for Aftenposten praised Toska's attack writing "May David Toska and the other freshmen of his age keep his touch for the art of combination".[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Vestlandet slår til Published in Aftenposten November 25, 1989. Reprinted in Norsk Sjakkblad no. 3, 2005, page 18 with commentary regarding the article. (Norwegian)