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Rinson Jose has been allegedly linked to Lebanon pager blasts which have left several dead and scores injured. (Photo: IANS)
Rinson Jose has been allegedly linked to Lebanon pager blasts which have left several dead and scores injured
An Indian-born entrepreneur and Norwegian citizen has been allegedly linked to the Lebanon pager blasts that have left several dead and scores injured. Kerala-born Rinson Jose hails from Wayanad and holds a Norwegian passport, having settled with his wife in Oslo, Norway.
Media reports said that Jose owns Norta Global, a company registered in Bulgaria and is believed to have supplied the pager explosives to Lebanon. After reports emerged of Jose’s ties to the Lebanon explosions, his relatives on Friday said that they trust him and he will be not involved in the Lebanon pager blasts.
Who Is Rinson Jose?
“We speak daily over the phone. However, for the last three days, we have had no contact with Jose. He is a straightforward person and we trust him fully. He will not be part of any wrongdoing. He may have been trapped in these blasts,” Thankachen, a relative of Jose, was quoted as saying by IANS.
Thankachen said that they have also had no contact with Joe’s wife for many days now. A few years back, Jose went to Norway for higher studies. He briefly worked in London before returning to Oslo. Apart from having his own firm, Jose also works in Oslo and has a twin brother based in London. Meanwhile, a neighbour of Jose in Wayanad also said that he has known Jose for a long time and has been found to be a very nice person.
Who Is Behind Pager Blasts?
On Friday, authorities in Taiwan and Bulgaria denied involvement in the supply chain of thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon in a deadly blow to Hezbollah. Tuesday’s attack, and another on Wednesday involving exploding hand-held radios used by Hezbollah, together killed 37 people and wounded about 3,000 in Lebanon.
How or when the pagers were weaponised and remotely detonated remains a public mystery and the hunt for answers has involved Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway and Romania. Israel was responsible for the pager explosions that raised the stakes in a growing conflict between the two sides. Israel has not directly commented on the attacks.
Taiwan and Bulgaria
Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said this week it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack, and that Hungary-based company BAC to which the pagers were traced had a licence to use its brand. “The components are (mainly) low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries,” Taiwan’s Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters.
Bulgaria also became a focal point for investigations on Thursday after local media reported that Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd was involved in selling the pagers. However, Bulgaria’s state security agency DANS said on Friday it had “indisputably established” that no pagers used in the Lebanon attack were imported to, exported from, or made in Bulgaria.
(With agency inputs)
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