Norwegian police have issued an international search warrant for a Norwegian-Indian man in connection with the sale of pagers to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The pagers exploded last week, killing dozens of people. The unprecedented attacks, which many blame on Israel, resulted in the deaths of 12 people, including two children, and left up to 2,800 injured. The next day, 25 more people were killed, and over 450 were injured when walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanese supermarkets, during funerals, and on the streets.
Rinson Jose, 39, the founder of a Bulgarian company allegedly involved in the pager supply chain, disappeared while on a work trip to the U.S. last week. On Thursday, Oslo police announced: “Yesterday, the Oslo police district received a missing person report related to the pager case. A missing persons investigation has been launched, and we have issued an international warrant for the individual.”
Jose’s employer, DN Media Group, reported that he left for a conference in Boston on September 17, but since the following day, they have been unable to reach him.
According to Bulgaria’s corporate registry, Jose founded Norta Global Ltd, a company based in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2022. While Bulgarian authorities have looked into the company’s involvement in supplying the pagers, they found no evidence that the devices were manufactured or exported from Bulgaria.
Who is Rinson Jose?
Rinson Jose, originally from India, is now a Norwegian citizen. He holds an MBA from Pondicherry University in India and another Master’s degree in International Social Welfare and Health Policy from Oslo Metropolitan University, completed in 2015.
Jose has held a number of positions throughout his career. He has been employed by DN Media Group since February 2020 and is currently the Customer Journey & CRM Lead.
