Norwegian police have issued an international search warrant for 39-year-old Rinson Jose, a Norwegian Indian man, in connection with the sale of pagers to Hezbollah, which exploded last week, causing dozens of fatalities. Jose, the founder of a Bulgarian company implicated in the pager supply chain, disappeared during a work trip to the United States.
The Oslo police confirmed the missing person report on Thursday, stating, “Yesterday, the Oslo police district received a missing person report in connection with the pager case. A missing persons case has been opened, and we have sent out an international warrant for the person.”
Jose was last contacted on 18 September by Reuters, during which he declined to comment on his involvement with the Bulgarian company, Norta Global Ltd, which he founded in 2022. The company, based in Sofia, has been investigated by Bulgarian authorities regarding its role in supplying the explosive pagers, though no evidence was found that the devices were produced or exported from Bulgaria.
Jose, a Norwegian citizen of Indian origin, was last known to be travelling to a conference in Boston on 17 September, but has not been heard from since the following day. His employer, DN Media Group, confirmed that attempts to contact him have been unsuccessful.
The pager explosions in Lebanon, attributed to Israel, resulted in 12 deaths, including two children, and up to 2,800 injuries. The following day, a separate wave of explosions involving walkie-talkies killed 25 people and wounded over 450 others in various locations across Lebanon.