OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian police have issued a world search warrant for Rinson Jose, a Norwegian-Indian man linked to the sale of pagers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that erupted final week, they mentioned on Thursday.
Jose, 39, disappeared whereas on a enterprise journey to the United States final week. He is the founding father of a Bulgarian firm that was reportedly a part of the pager provide chain.
Asked what they have been doing to search out Jose, police responded in an electronic mail to Reuters: “Yesterday, September 25, the Oslo Police District acquired a lacking particular person report in reference to the pager case.”
“A lacking particular person case has been opened and we now have issued a world arrest warrant for him,” he added.
Norway’s felony police company Kripos, which handles worldwide requests, confirmed to Reuters that the request had been despatched, however declined to offer additional particulars.
When an individual goes lacking overseas, Kripos usually points a worldwide alert, the so-called “yellow alert”, however can also contact its international counterparts straight relying on the circumstances, its spokesman beforehand instructed Reuters.
Interpol was not instantly out there for remark.
Jose declined to touch upon the pagers when reached by telephone final Wednesday, September 18, and hung up when requested in regards to the Bulgarian exercise. He didn’t reply to repeated calls and textual content messages.
Jose’s Norwegian employer, DN Media Group, mentioned he left for a convention in Boston on September 17 and that the corporate had not been in a position to contact him since September 18. He works within the group’s gross sales division.
In 2022, Jose based the corporate Norta Global Ltd primarily based in Sofia, as reported by the Bulgarian Commercial Register.
Bulgaria investigated the corporate’s position in supplying booby-trapped pagers, however discovered no proof that they have been manufactured in or exported from the nation.
The Norwegian Security Police (PST) additionally launched a preliminary investigation earlier this week into stories {that a} Norwegian-owned firm was linked to the sale of the pagers.
Over the course of two days final week, hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies utilized by Hezbollah operatives exploded in Lebanon, killing no less than 39 folks and wounding hundreds.
The assaults are extensively believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
