Rinson Jose, man linked to exploding pagers in Lebanon, missing in US

Norwegian police have issued an international search warrant for Rinson Jose, a Norwegian-Indian man linked to the sale of pagers to Hezbollah that exploded in Lebanon last week.

Jose (39) disappeared during a business trip to Boston and has not been heard from since September 18.

This was announced by Unni T. Grøndal, press chief of the Oslo Police District Newsweek“The Oslo Police District received a missing person report. The matter is under review and possible measures are being assessed.”

According to Reuters, the Norwegian criminal police unit KRIPOS confirmed that a request for an international search had been sent.

Last week, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives exploded across Lebanon, killing at least 39 people and injuring thousands. Although Israel neither confirmed nor denied involvement, the attacks are believed to have been carried out by Israeli forces.

The devices, initially linked to Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, were reportedly licensed by Hungarian company BAC Consulting and were developed by Norta Global Ltd, a Bulgarian company founded by Rinson Jose.

The exact method by which the pagers were armed remains unclear. Investigators are trying to determine how and when the devices were weaponized as Bulgaria, Hungary, Taiwan and Norway launched supply chain investigations.

Norta Global Ltd is a company based in Sofia, Bulgaria. According to the Bulgarian corporate register, Jose founded the company in 2022. Bulgarian authorities investigated Norta Global’s role in the supply of booby trap pagers but found no evidence that the devices were manufactured or exported from Bulgaria.

On September 19, the Bulgarian state security agency DANS announced the initiation of an investigation into possible links between the Bulgarian company and the exploding pagers, but did not provide the name of the company. Local media reports indicate that the company in question is Norta Global Ltd.

BAC Consulting came under scrutiny when Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo revealed that it had authorized BAC Consulting to use its name on pagers involved in the attacks. While Gold Apollo confirmed the licensing agreement, it said BAC Consulting was responsible for the actual production and design of the devices.

In statements given to the AP, the mother of BAC Consulting CEO Cristiana Barsona-Arcidiacono said her daughter only acted as an intermediary and that the pagers never physically passed through Hungary. The Hungarian government stated that the devices were not manufactured in Hungary and that BAC Consulting only acted as an intermediary.

---

Jose’s Norwegian employer, DN Media Group, said he had left for a conference in Boston on September 17, Reuters reported. He last contacted his colleagues via email on September 18 and has been unreachable since then. “We have not been able to contact him since September 18,” a DN Media Group spokesman said at the time.

When Reuters contacted Jos on September 18, he declined to comment on the pagers and hung up when asked about his Bulgarian business activities. Subsequent calls and text messages went unanswered. According to the news agency, attempts to contact him on September 25 were diverted to his answering machine.

Rinson Jose, who previously lived in Kerala, is an Indian-born Norwegian citizen. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Pondicherry, India, and a second Master’s degree in International Social Welfare and Health Policy from Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, which he graduated in 2015.

Professionally, Jose held several positions. In addition to working at DN Media Group since February 2020, most recently as Customer Journey & CRM Lead, he is listed on LinkedIn as the founder of NortaLink, an Oslo-based IT services, consulting, procurement and recruitment company since 2016. Norta Global is not listed on his LinkedIn profile.

Newsweek contacted KRIPOS, Interpol and Rinson Jose by email for comment.