NOKAS robbery

NOKAS robbery
Site of the NOKAS robbery
Location	Kongensgate, Stavanger, Norway
Date	5 April 2004 8 AM (UTC+1)
Target	NOKAS cash depot
Attack type	Bank robbery, shootout
Deaths	1: Arne Sigve Klungland, police lieutenant
Perpetrators	13 people

On 5 April 2004, at 8am the NOKAS cash depot (former Norsk kontantservice) in Kongensgate in Stavanger was raided by heavily armed men. It was the biggest ever heist in Norway.

Although the police had intelligence that a raid was expected in the coming days, they were understaffed and unprepared because of Easter, a national holiday in Norway. That morning a bulletin was issued warning the NOKAS depot was a possible target.

Equipped to hold off the police, the gunmen wore bulletproof vests, helmets, ski masks, gloves and overalls, and were armed with AG3s, MP5s, Kalashnikov automatic rifles, M1 carbine and a .45 ACP pistol. The gunmen undertook extensive means to delay a police response while the Nokas depot was attacked. The Stavanger Police HQ was blocked by a burning lorry on the vehicle exit, smoke bombs were thrown at the front of the building and spikes were spread across the road to burst the tires of police vehicles.

The raiders planned to gain access through a window overlooking a courtyard at the centre of the office block, believing it would not be adequately protected as it was an old building. The raid was to last 8 minutes if all went to plan but it all began to unravel as it became clear the bank was protected by bullet-proof glass. To break the window, first a sledgehammer and a battering ram were used and then 113 shots were fired at the window with automatic weapons. During this time the employees escaped before seven gunmen finally gained access to the ground floor of the Nokas building.

Outside, several gunmen held positions on Cathedral Square at the front of the bank. When the police arrived, shots were exchanged with the gunmen. Police Lieutenant Arne Sigve Klungland was shot dead. The perpetrators escaped with 57.4 million kroner (~$10 million USD) in national and foreign currencies, making it Norway's largest ever robbery. Of the total, 51 million kroner are still to be recovered.

The 37 Nokas employees received compensation worth a total of nine million kroner due to the trauma they suffered during the robbery.

This story is the basis for a movie titled Nokas, which premièred on 1 October 2010.