Rinson Jose, originally from Wayanad, Kerala, is now a Norwegian citizen after moving to Norway for higher studies. He owns a company in Bulgaria reportedly linked to the supply of pagers involved in recent blasts aimed at Hezbollah operatives, which resulted in 12 deaths and thousands of injuries in Lebanon.
Jose, 37, has emerged in the investigation surrounding the pager blasts, with initial reports suggesting his Bulgarian company was implicated in supplying these devices. The pagers, modified by Mossad to contain three grams of explosives each, were reportedly manufactured by a Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo. However, the company stated that the specific model used in the attacks, the AR-924, was actually produced by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Budapest, Hungary, which was authorized to use Gold Apollo’s trademark.
On Thursday, shortly after the blasts, Bulgaria’s state security agency DANS announced it was coordinating with the interior ministry to investigate a company linked to Jose, later identified as Norta Global Ltd., registered in Sofia in 2022.
However, just a day later, DANS clarified that the pagers used in the Lebanese explosions had neither been imported, exported, nor manufactured in Bulgaria. The agency stated, “It has been indisputably established that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on September 17 was imported, exported, or manufactured in Bulgaria.” They also noted that Jose and his company had not engaged in any transactions related to the sale or purchase of the equipment or activities falling under terrorism financing laws.
Norwegian police in Oslo have since initiated a preliminary investigation into the emerging details.
Reports indicate that Jose moved to Norway several years ago for his studies and briefly worked in London before returning to Oslo. His LinkedIn profile shows he has nearly five years of experience in digital customer support for the Norwegian press group DN Media. The company confirmed that he is currently on an overseas work trip and has been unreachable since Tuesday.
Family members expressed their concern, noting that they have not been able to contact Jose or his wife in the past few days. A relative, Thankachen, stated, “We speak daily over the phone. However, we have had no contact with Jose for the last three days. He is a straightforward person, and we trust him completely. He would not be involved in any wrongdoing; he may have been caught up in these blasts.”
