Norway issues international search request for person linked to pager explosion case

Norwegian police have issued an international request for the search of Rinson Jose, a man of Norwegian-Indian descent, linked to the sale of pagers to Hezbollah that exploded last week.

 Thus, 39-year-old Jose went missing during a business trip to the US last week. He is the founder of a Bulgarian company reportedly involved in the supply chain of the pagers, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

“On September 25, a missing person report was filed with the Oslo police district in connection with the pager case,” the police responded in an email.

The Norwegian Criminal Police (Kripos), which handles international requests, confirmed that the request had been sent but declined to provide further details.

Jose did not comment on the pager allegations when contacted by phone on September 18 and hung up when asked about his Bulgarian business. He has not responded to repeated calls and text messages. 

Jose's Norwegian employer, DN Media Group, reported that he left for a conference in Boston on September 17, and the company has been unable to reach him since September 18. He works in the sales department of the group. 

In 2022, Jose established a Sofia-based company, Norta Global Ltd. Bulgaria has investigated the role of this company in the supply of trap pagers but found no evidence that they were manufactured or exported from the country.

Numerous people were killed and thousands more injured, many seriously, after communication devices, some used by the armed group Hezbollah, dramatically exploded across Lebanon on September 17-18. In the latest round of blasts, exploding walkie-talkies killed 20 and injured at least 450 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The explosions occurred in the vicinity of a large crowd that had gathered for the funerals of four victims of pager blasts.

By Naila Huseynova