David Toska

{{Short description|Norwegian bank robber}}

{{More footnotes|date=November 2010}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| image= David Toska2.jpg

| image_size= 210px

| birth_name= David Aleksander Toska

| birth_date= {{birth date and age|1975|09|18|df=y}}

| birth_place= Bergen, Norway

| nationality= Norwegian

| known_for="The mastermind" behind the NOKAS robbery

}}

File:David Toska3.jpg

David Aleksander Toska (born 18 September 1975) was the alleged "mastermind" behind the "NOKAS robbery" in Stavanger on 5 April 2004, one of the most profiled criminal cases in modern Norwegian 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 in 1985. He attended school at Ullevål and then Bjølsen.{{cite news|url=http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2007/08/17/509125.html|title=Dette er David Toska|last=Rognmo|first=Gro|date=17 August 2007|work=Dagbladet|language=Norwegian}} 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 sub-machine gun, explosives and tools for committing robberies. He is considered the mastermind behind the break-in at Norsk Medisinaldepot 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 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 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 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.{{cite news |title=Convict Toska now serving time at home |url=https://www.newsinenglish.no/2017/08/08/convict-toska-now-serving-time-at-home/ |access-date=26 September 2022 |work=NewsInEnglish.no |publisher=Robby.no}}

Toska was involved in discussions with police for the return of the paintings The Scream and Madonna, which had been stolen from Oslo's Munch Museum on Sunday, 22 August 2004.

{{cite web |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/munch-masterpieces-damaged-repairable-wbna14625906 |title=Munch masterpieces damaged, but repairable |publisher=today.com |date=1 September 2006 |access-date=25 September 2022}} Oslo police refuse to say how they were able to recover the paintings.{{cite news |title=Norway denies deal in return of Munch paintings |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/norway-denies-deal-in-return-of-munch-paintings-1.602815 |access-date=26 September 2022 |work=CBC News |date=September 18, 2006}}{{cite news |title=Art Theft in Oslo: The Return of Munch's Icons |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/art-theft-in-oslo-the-return-of-munch-s-icons-a-435293.html |access-date=26 September 2022 |work=Der Spiegel |date=6 September 2006 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Iain |title=The Art Business |date=28 August 2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-22242-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tyugz8jqssC&dq=Toska&pg=PA209 |access-date=26 September 2022 |language=en}}

In September 2024, he is scheduled to start as [CEO] (daglig leder) in Wayback (a Norwegian foundation).https://www.nettavisen.no/nyheter/david-toska-har-fatt-ny-jobb-i-stiftelsen-wayback/s/5-95-1987431. Retrieved 2024-08-29