by Nerijus Adomaitis at Reuters
- Norway security agency launches preliminary investigation
- Bulgaria is investigating a company founded by a Norwegian
- Rinson Jose founded Norta Global Ltd in 2022, registry shows
- Jose’s employer says he left for work trip to the U.S. last week, no contact since
Norway’s security police (PST) have begun a preliminary investigation into reports that a Norwegian-owned company was linked to the sale of pagers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that exploded last week, a police lawyer told Reuters.
Over a two-day period last week, thousands of pagers, as well as 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.
It is not clear how and when the pagers were weaponised so they could be remotely detonated. Taiwan, Hungary and Bulgaria are already investigating possible links in the supply chain.
“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 said in a text message to Reuters.
Earlier he told Norwegian news agency NTB that the police had no specific suspicions at this time.
Bulgarian authorities said last week they were investigating Sofia-based company…
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