Norway issues international search request for person linked to exploding Hezbollah pagers

Lebanese first responders carry a man who was wounded after his handheld pager exploded in an attack blamed on Israel targeting Hezbollah, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, September 17, 2024. (AP Photo)
Lebanese first responders carry a man who was wounded after his handheld pager exploded in an attack blamed on Israel targeting Hezbollah, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, September 17, 2024. (AP Photo)

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

Jose, 39, disappeared while on a work trip to the US last week. He is a founder of a Bulgarian company that was reportedly part of the pager supply chain.

“Yesterday, September 25, the Oslo police district received a missing person report in connection with the pager case,” Oslo police say in an email to Reuters. “A missing persons case has been opened, and we have sent out an international warrant for the person.”

Jose declined to comment on the pagers when reached by phone last Wednesday, September 18, and hung up when asked about the Bulgarian business. He did not return repeated calls and text messages.

Jose’s Norwegian employer, DN Media Group, says he left for a conference in Boston on September 17, and the company has not been able to reach him since September 18. He works at the group’s sales department.

Over a two-day period last week, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives blew up in Lebanon, killing at least 39 people and wounding thousands. The attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

Bulgaria has investigated the company’s role in the supply of the booby-trapped pagers, but has found no evidence that they were made or exported from the country.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

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