NRK profiles former Norwegian bank robber Martin Pedersen

Norwegian broadcaster NRK has published a long-form account of Martin Pedersen, a 1970s–80s bank robber who carried out 19 robberies and repeatedly evaded police by using disguises—posing as, among others, a priest, a doctor and a woman. The report traces how the spree began with a 1974 burglary that included Edvard Munch’s “Madonna”, and how the robberies became a national story in a period when cash was abundant and bank branches were soft targets.

Pedersen’s method was not technical sophistication but theatre. NRK describes him as a polite, well-dressed amateur actor who took a keen interest in wigs, costumes and makeup while performing in local productions in Tønsberg. The same skills later became operational tools: he could change appearance, perform confidence, and move through institutions that were built on visual cues and routine compliance.

The first bank robbery in the story shows how much of the job was customer service turned inside out. Pedersen phoned ahead pretending to be an elderly lottery winner to make sure the bank would have large amounts of cash on hand. He then arrived armed with a stolen military rifle, spoke Swedish while issuing commands, and left with 230,000 kroner—money he buried along with the weapon and clothing. In today’s terms, NRK notes, that haul would be roughly 1.5 million kroner.

The report’s larger point is that the occupation has nearly disappeared for structural reasons. As cash use collapses and branches close, there is less money to steal and fewer physical points of attack. What used to be a high-risk, high-reward crime has been replaced by quieter forms of extraction: fraud, digital theft, and social engineering that scale without a getaway car.

But the older model also depended on a feedback loop between police, press and public. Spectacular robberies created recognisable characters; recognisable characters generated headlines; headlines raised the stakes and the mythology. Pedersen, now older, tells NRK he is ashamed of what he did, but the machinery that turned his crimes into a national narrative did not require his approval.

Pedersen bought a villa on Nøtterøy and furnished it with expensive items, while keeping a hidden room in the basement. The story begins with a stolen Munch that he could not sell and ends with a country that has made bank robbery unprofitable by removing the cash.