(Image source from: REUTERS)

An Indian-Norwegian entrepreneur has been linked to the pager explosion in Lebanon that killed at least 12 people and injured thousands. Rinson Jose was born in Kerala, hails from Wayanad and lives with his wife in Oslo, Norway. He holds a Norwegian passport. Jose reportedly owns Norta Global, a company registered in Bulgaria that is believed to have supplied explosive pagers to Lebanon. The pagers were manufactured by Hungarian company BAC Consulting under the brand of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, which was reportedly acquired through Norta Global. According to the Daily Mail, there were indications that Jose knew of a secret plan to rig the pagers with explosives and that the end buyer was cooperating with Israeli security services. The shell company Norta Global Ltd. is registered in a residential building in Budapest where almost 200 other companies are located, the newspaper continues. Following reports linking Jose to the Lebanon bombings, Jose's relatives said Friday that they trusted Jose and would not take part in the pager attacks in Lebanon. “We talk on the phone every day. But for the last three days I haven't been able to reach Jose. He is an honest person and we trust him completely. I will not engage in any wrongdoing. Maybe he did. “In this explosion.” fell.”

Mr. Sankachen said he had not spoken to Joe's wife for several days. A few years ago Jose went to Norway to continue his higher education. He worked briefly in London before returning to Oslo. In addition to owning his own business, Jose also works in Oslo and has a twin brother in London. Meanwhile, Jose's neighbors in Wayanad also say that they have known Jose for a long time and think he is a very good person. On Friday, authorities in Taiwan and Bulgaria denied any involvement in the supply chain of the thousands of pagers that attacked Lebanon's Hezbollah on Tuesday. A total of 37 people were killed and about 3,000 injured in Lebanon in the attack on Tuesday and another on Wednesday in which a portable radio used by Hezbollah exploded.

How and when the pagers were weaponized and detonated remotely remains a public mystery, and Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway and Romania are searching for answers. Israel was responsible for the pager explosion, increasing the risk of an escalation of the conflict between the two countries. Israel has not directly commented on the attack. Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said this week that the equipment used in the attack was not manufactured by the company and that Hungary-based BAC, which tracks the pagers, had licensed the use of its brand. "The components are (mainly) low-end ICs (integrated circuits) and batteries," Taiwan's Economy Minister Ko Ji-hui told reporters. Bulgaria also became the focus of an investigation on Thursday after local media reported that Sofia-based Norta Global was involved in selling pagers. However, Bulgaria's national security agency DANS said on Friday that it had "conclusively proven" that the pagers used in the attack on Lebanon were neither imported, exported nor manufactured.