By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Reuters said that the Norwegian man refused to comment on the issue of the pagers when he was reached via phone on September 18 and “hung up when asked about the Bulgarian business.”

The Norwegian police announced on Thursday that it issued an international search request for a Norwegian-Indian man by the name of Rinson Jose who is reportedly linked to the sale of pagers, which exploded last week across Lebanon claiming the lives of scores of Lebanese and injuring thousands of others, Reuters news agency reported.

“Yesterday, Sept. 25, the Oslo police district received a missing person report in connection with the pager case,” the Norwegian police reportedly said in an email in answer to a question by Reuters.

“A missing persons case has been opened, and we have sent out an international warrant for the person,” the police added, according to Reuters.

Rinson Jose is a 39-year-old man who reportedly disappeared last week while on a trip to the United States.

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He is the founder of a Bulgarian company that was “reportedly part of the pager supply chain,” Reuters said, adding that Jose established the Sofia-based company under the name of Norta Global Ltd, per the Bulgarian corporate registry.

Reuters said that the Norwegian man refused to comment on the issue of the pagers when he was reached via phone on September 18 and “hung up when asked about the Bulgarian business.”

“He did not return repeated calls and text messages,” Reuters added.

Norwegian DN Media Group, which employs Jose at the company’s sales department, confirmed that the man traveled for a Boston conference on September 17 and it has not been able to touch basis with him since September 18.

According to Reuters, the security police in Norway opened last week an initial probe “into reports that a Norwegian-owned company was linked to the sale of the pagers.”

Hungary’s Investigation  

For their part, Hungarian intelligence services have interrogated Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, regarding the pagers that recently exploded in Lebanon, according to a government statement released on Saturday.

Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese pager manufacturer, stated on September 18 that the devices involved in the lethal explosions were produced by BAC Consulting under its brand name.

However, Gold Apollo clarified that they had only licensed their trademark to the company and were not involved in the production of the devices themselves.

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Arcidiacono, the Italian-Hungarian owner and CEO of BAC Consulting, told NBC News that her company did not manufacture the pagers, describing herself as merely an “intermediary.”

The Hungarian government’s international press office, citing the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, reported that intelligence services have been investigating the case since September 18 and have questioned Arcidiacono multiple times.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution confirmed an earlier government statement, asserting that the pagers used in the explosions had never been in Hungary.

Israel’s Cyber-Terror Attacks

Several wireless communication devices exploded on September 17 and 18 across various areas of Lebanon.

Reuters news agency reported, citing both a security source and an eyewitness, that the devices involved in the explosions were portable radios, unlike the pagers that were attacked the previous day.

Al-Mayadeen reported that the devices, apparently ICOM V82s, detonated, and “due to the devices containing highly flammable lithium batteries, the explosions were severe.”

“The explosions caused massive fires in cars, motorcycles, apartments, and stores all over Lebanon,” the report added.

A day earlier, thousands of Lebanese citizens were injured when their portable pager communication devices unexpectedly detonated.

(PC, Agencies)