The Norwegian-Indian man allegedly tied to the company that helped supply the explosive pagers to Hezbollah has gone missing after traveling to the US, officials said.
Rinson Jose, 39, disappeared while on a trip to Boston last week on the heels of the pager and walkie-talkie explosions that left 39 people dead and more than 3,000 injured in Lebanon in a suspected Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah, Norwegian police said.
“Yesterday, September 25, the Oslo police district received a missing person report in connection with the pager case,” Oslo police told Reuters. “A missing persons case has been opened, and we have sent out an international warrant for the person.”
Jose was identified as a person of interest in the case following reports that his Bulgarian-based company, Norta Global Ltd., had helped the pagers reach Hezbollah.
Rinson, who founded the company in 2022, has not been seen since leaving for a conference in Boston on Sept. 17, the same day the pagers were detonated.
Reporters were able to briefly contact him over the phone following the attack, with Rinson declining to comment before going completely dark the following day.
His colleagues at the DN Media Group, where he was listed as an employee in the sales department on LinkedIn, said they last heard from him on Sept. 18 via email, according to Norwegian media.
Bulgarian officials said they have investigated the claims against Norta Global and found no evidence that the company had a role in making or exporting the booby-trapped pagers.
The search for Jose comes as Taiwan is also investigating the case following reports that Gold Apollo, based in the Asian nation, manufactured the pagers used in the attack.
Taiwan has refuted the claims and has so far questioned four people in the ongoing investigation, including Gold Apollo’s president and founder, Hsu Ching-kuang, and Teresa Wu, the sole employee of a company called Apollo Systems.
“We are processing this case expeditiously and seeking resolution as soon as possible,” said a spokesperson for the Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei.
Following the deadly pager attacks and follow-up walkie-talkie explosions, reports emerged that the Israeli spy agency Mossad had intercepted the shipment of communication devices five months ago and rigged them with pentaerythritol tetranitrate, a highly explosive material.
They were implanted with as little as 1 to 2 ounces of the explosive, allegedly placed next to each battery along with a switch that could be triggered remotely, sources told the New York Times.
With Post wires
