Stavanger Bomb and Theft Four Months Before Munch Museum Art Theft

Summary: Oslo Assistant Police Chief Iver Stensrud says that solving the Stavanger bomb and theft April 5, 2004, solves the Munch Museum art theft Aug. 22, 2004.

Domkirkeplassen (Cathedral Square), Stavanger, was the site of the 2004 NOKAS robbery in Stavanger, Norway; Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008, 10:31: Helge Høifødt, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

A car explosion and a cash transport service robbery April 5, 2004, in Stavanger, Norway, perhaps anticipated the Munch Museum art theft Aug. 22, 2004, in Oslo by aggravating police response times.

Both cases became national priorities because of the machine-gunning of Lieutenant Arne Sigve Klungland (1950-April 5, 2004) and the masterpiece-stealing of the Munch Madonna and Scream. On-call equipment and uniforms respectively consisted of bullet-proof vests and of Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and P30 pistols carried inside locked patrol car compartments. National Police Directorate-compiled data described Norwegian police firing 33 times and injuring 18 individuals between 2002 and 2014, with one fatality each in 2005 and 2006.

Oslo Assistant Police Chief Iver Stensrud expects from day one to establish cause-and-effect, by Norwegian locals "known to us," between the geographically and temporally estranged events.

Norges Bank, scene of 40-minute robbery of 57.4 million kroner ($10 million; £5 million), during NOKAS robbery of Monday, April 5, 2004; considered a highlight of 1960s architecture (1960-tallsarkitekturens høydepunkter), Norges Bank is assigned cultural monument number 131063 in the database of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren - Direktoratet for kulturminneforvaltning); Monday, Sep. 26, 2011, 14:36: Jarvin, CC BY SA 3.0 Norway, via Wikimedia Commons

Online sources in English and Norwegian furnish figures of 10 police officer fatalities, including the Stavanger case, in the line of duty from 1945 to 2010.

Contemporary coverage gave 8 a.m. Central European Summer Time, CEST (6 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time, UTC) for two bombing the van and eight robbing the bank. One perpetrator hurled a tear gas canister into the white van in front of the police station before hustling into a passenger car with his driver. The Norsk Kontantservice, now NOKAS Cash Handling, robbery involved three gunmen outside, and five black-garbed, gas-masked, helmeted robbers inside, the Norges Bank (Norway [Central] Bank) basement. The bombing impeded police response, other than in two patrol cars, to the 40-minute robbery of 57.4 million kroner ($10 million; £5 million) in "untraceable cash."

Getaway cars joined the van as deoxyribonucleic acid- (DNA) and fingerprint-jeopardized, fire-gutted vehicles 1.24 miles (two kilometers) from Stavanger by 9 a.m. CEST (7 a.m. UTC).

The Guardian investigative reporter Kris Hollington finds that the 1994 National Gallery Munch art theft diverts police attention away from bank robberies by Tweitagjengen (Tveita Gang); Sunday, May 23, 2010, 15:39; Tveita Senter (Tveita Shopping Center), namesake of Tveita Gang: Vidar Iversen (Vidariv), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Oslo's National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design keeps the most famous of four versions by Edvard Munch (Dec. 12, 1863-Jan. 23, 1944) of The Scream. Its National Gallery lists the world-famous oil, tempera, pastel and crayon painting on cardboard as a theft survivor 10 years before the Munch Museum art theft. The 35.83- by 28.94-inch (91- by 73.5-centimeter) artwork manifests no damage from after-hours, unlawful movement from its second-story art gallery home Feb. 12, 1994-May 7, 1994. Kris Hollington, investigative journalist with The Guardian, noted the National Gallery Munch art theft as nudging police attention away from Oslo-area Tweitagjengen (Tveita Gang) bank robberies.

Assistant Police Chief Stensrud observed, "You can't sell The Scream, it's impossible. [Alleged NOKAS robbery "mastermind" David] Toska used the same methods as the Tveita Gang."

alleged NOKAS robbery mastermind David Toska during NOKAS robbery trial, Monday, Oct. 23, 2006, 14:17: Lapsklaus, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

A police reward June 2, 2005, almost one year after the Munch Museum art theft, promised 2 million kroner ($317,000, £170,000) for information that produces recovery. Terje Nyboe, Oslo public prosecutor, qualified the trio convicted May 2, 2006, of the Munch Museum art theft for lighter prison sentences, upon appeal, for recovery.

Nobody revealed the particulars behind the recoveries Aug. 31, 2006, even though the Jones article refers to a reportedly unremunerated "tip-off" by Øystein Storrvik, Toska's lawyer. Assistant Chief Stensrud stated, "It is a happy day for us in the police, for the owners of the paintings, and not least for the public."

It took police officers to tackle the Munch Museum art theft and paintings conservators to tease the Munch Madonna and the Munch Scream back from trauma.

Art conservators tackle restoration after Norway's police officers solve the Munch Museum 2004 art thefts; "The Scream" photo by Munch Museum art conservator Mie Mustad: Munch Museet (themunchmuseum), via Instagram April 11, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Domkirkeplassen (Cathedral Square), Stavanger, was the site of the 2004 NOKAS robbery in Stavanger, Norway; Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008, 10:31: Helge Høifødt, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Domkirkeplassen_Stavanger.JPG

Norges Bank, scene of 40-minute robbery of 57.4 million kroner ($10 million; £5 million), during NOKAS robbery of Monday, April 5, 2004; considered a highlight of 1960s architecture (1960-tallsarkitekturens høydepunkter), Norges Bank is assigned cultural monument number 131063 in the database of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren - Direktoratet for kulturminneforvaltning); Monday, Sep. 26, 2011, 14:36: Jarvin, CC BY SA 3.0 Norway, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norges_Bank_bygningen.jpg

The Guardian investigative reporter Kris Hollington finds that the 1994 National Gallery Munch art theft diverts police attention away from bank robberies by Tweitagjengen (Tveita Gang); Tveita Senter (Tveita Shopping Center), namesake of Tveita Gang; Sunday, May 23, 2010, 15:39: Vidar Iversen (Vidariv), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tveita_senter.JPG

alleged NOKAS robbery mastermind David Toska during NOKAS robbery trial, Monday, Oct. 23, 2006, 14:17: Lapsklaus, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Toska3.jpg

Art conservators tackle restoration after Norway's police officers solve the Munch Museum 2004 art thefts; "The Scream" photo by Munch Museum art conservator Mie Mustad: Munch Museet (themunchmuseum), via Instagram April 11, 2016, @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BEEE0-xRUrQ/; via Instagram April 11, 2016, @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BEEE0-xRUrQ/?taken-by=themunchmuseum

For further information:

Egeberg, Kristoffer. 4 March 2010. "Ti politimenn drept siden krigen." Dagbladet > Nyheter.
Available @ http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/ti-politimenn-drept-siden-krigen/64982491

Hollington, Kris. 13 June 2005. "Master Plan." The Guardian > US Edition > Arts > Art & Design > Art.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/jun/13/art.arttheft

Jones, Jonathan. 16 February 2007. "The Bigger Picture." The Guardian > US Edition > Arts > Art & Design > Art > Jones on Art.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/feb/17/art.arttheft

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 August 2017. "Munch Museum Scream Art Theft: FBI Art Crime Solved Within Two Years." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/08/munch-museum-scream-art-theft-fbi-art.html

Politidirektoratet. 1 June 2015. Politiets trussel om bruk av skytevåpen eller bruk an skytevåpen 2002-2014.
Available @ https://www.politi.no/vedlegg/lokale_vedlegg/politidirektoratet/Vedlegg_3021.pdf

Sullivan, Kevin. 1 September 2006. "Stolen 'Scream' Painting Recovered After 2-Year Search." Washington Post > Arts & Living > Entertainment News.
Available @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083100783.html

Weller, Chris. 30 July 2015. "American Police Kill More People in One Day Than Norway Cops Have in 9 Years." Business Insider > Tech News.
Available @ http://www.businessinsider.com/american-police-kill-more-people-in-one-day-than-norway-cops-have-in-10-years-2015-7