Explained | Who is Rinson Jose? How did his name come up in Lebanon pager blast case?

Bulgaria's National Security Agency (SANS) gave a clean chit to the company as it stated that no communication device linked to the blast was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria.

Rinson Jose, a Norwegian citizen born in Kerala, has become one of the focal points in the global hunt for who supplied Hezbollah with the thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon this week that killed 12 people and injured more than 2,300.

Here we take a look at who is Rinson Jose and how the name of his company came up in the Lebanon serial blasts case:

Who is Rinson Jose?

Norwegian citizen Rinson Jose, who has roots in Kerala, reportedly owns Bulgarian company Norta Global that was founded in April 2022. Jose, who migrated from Wayanad, earlier ran a consultancy firm in Norway where he has been an active member of the Malayali community.

As per his LinkedIn, Jose is an entrepreneur in NortaLink, an IT services, consulting, procurement, and recruiting Company. Norta Global is allegedly a shell company of NortaLink.

Meanwhile, his family back in the village has no clue about the investigation into his link with the pager deal.

"Jose left Kerala for a job and studies ten years back. He last visited home last November and returned in January. We were told that he was working for a firm. We are not aware of any company he is running. He had contacted the family a few days ago but did not mention anything about the fresh developments. We firmly believe that Jose is not involved in any illegal acts," Jose's relative Thankachan said.

How did Norta Global's name come in the picture?

Reuters quoted local media reports as saying that Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd had facilitated the sale of the pagers to Hezbollah. Citing security sources, national broadcaster bTV reported that 1.6 million euros related to the transaction passed through Bulgaria, and was sent to Hungary.

Although on paper it was BAC Consulting that signed the contract with Gold Apollo, Norta Global Ltd. was actually the one behind the deal, Telex reported.

The name of BAC Consulting was put forward by the founder and president of Taiwan's Gold Apollo. Logos of Gold Apollo were found on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon.

However, Bulgaria's National Security Agency (SANS) gave a clean chit to Norta Global as it stated that no communication device linked to the blast was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria.

"Following verifications, it has been indisputably established that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on September 17 was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria," Barron's reported.

Norta's Bulgarian headquarters are registered at an apartment building in the capital Sofia that is also home to nearly 200 other companies, according to a local company registry. There was no sign of Norta.

Content on Norta Global’s website, globalnorta.com, was deleted on Thursday. The website previously had English, Bulgarian and Norwegian language versions, and advertised services including consulting, technology integration, recruitment, and outsourcing.