Norwegian security police to probe company allegedly linked to Hezbollah pager explosions

Read this article in:

The Norwegian security police (PST) have initiated a preliminary probe of a Norwegian-affiliated company that is allegedly linked to the sale of the pagers that exploded last week in the hands of Hezbollah terrorists last week.

"PST has initiated a preliminary investigation to determine whether there are reasons for starting a (full) investigation on the basis of allegations in the media that a Norwegian-owned company may have been involved in the dissemination of pagers to Hezbollah,” PST lawyer Haris Hrenovica wrote in an SMS to Reuters.

The probe concerns a business established in 2022 by Rinson Jose, a 39-year-old Norwegian citizen. Jose signed the company’s articles of association at the Bulgarian Consulate in Norway, according to documents shared with Reuters.

Jose has refused to comment on the matter. His LinkedIn profile reveals that he is employed by the DN Media Group and attended a conference in Boston on Sept. 17, when the pagers held by Hezbollah terrorists exploded.

Hrenovica told the Norwegian news outlet NTB that local police authorities still do not have any concrete suspicions about Jose.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian authorities are conducting an investigation of the Bulgaria-based company Norta Global Ltd. concerning potential links to the Hezbollah pagers explosions. The investigation began after Hungarian media reported that the company may have links to pager sales.

It is currently unclear whether there is any link between Norta Global and the DN Media Group.

Last week, some 4,000 Hezbollah pagers exploded, killing dozens and wounding hundreds of terrorist operatives in Lebanon and Syria. In addition, at least 19 Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) operatives in Syria were killed when their walkie-talkies exploded last week.

The Iranian regime and Hezbollah terror group accused Israel of the pagers explosions, however, the Israeli government has neither officially confirmed nor denied responsibility for the unprecedented attack.

The New York Times reported that a Hungarian-based company, BAC, which allegedly manufactured the exploding pagers for Hezbollah, was an Israeli shell company. NYT quoted three unnamed Israeli intelligence officers who revealed that Israel had established two additional shell companies, which each played an important role in hiding the identities of the individuals who were responsible for producing the pagers for Hezbollah.

BAC was reportedly a fully functioning company that produced conventional pagers for other clients. However, the pagers that were earmarked for Hezbollah were “produced separately, they contained batteries laced with explosive,” the Israeli intelligence official told NYT.

The pagers investigation in Norway comes at a time of tense diplomatic relations between Norway and Israel. In May, Norway joined Spain and Ireland in unilaterally recognizing “Palestine” as a de facto state despite objections from Israel that such a diplomatic move constitutes a major reward for anti-Israel terrorism.