Sofia (Bulgaria): Bulgarian authorities said on Friday a company based in Sofia had nothing to do with the delivery of exploding communications devices to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies detonated across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people, wounding nearly 3,000 and generating panic.
Hezbollah and several international media organisations have blamed Israel for sabotaging the electronic devices. Israel has not made any public comment. "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," the National Security Agency (SANS) said.
The SANS said on Thursday it had launched an investigation after Hungarian website Telex said Norta Global -- a company registered in Sofia by a Norwegian, had imported the devices and then delivered them to Hezbollah. On Friday, the SANS said the company and its owner had "not carried out any transactions linked to the sale or purchase of the merchandise" or that "fall under laws on terrorism financing".
Norta Global, which was founded in April 2022 by Rinson Jose, last year declared revenue of 650,000 euros ($725,000) for consulting activities outside the European Union. On its now disactivated website, Norta Global says it is a "leading technology company with strong focus on various technology project management, tech allocation, promotion, and integration."
Oslo police said they have opened a "preliminary investigation into the information that has emerged". Rinson Jose could not be immediately reached for comment. According to his LinkedIn page, he has worked for almost five years in digital customer support for Norwegian press group DN Media. The company told newspaper Verdens Gang that he has been on an overseas work trip since Tuesday and that they have not been able to reach him.
Alerted by a US reporter, the company said it has contacted the Norwegian internal security services, who did not respond to AFP's request for comment. Meanwhile, top officials in Taiwan have insisted the communications devices, which carried the brand name of local company Gold Apollo, were not from the island.
Gold Apollo head Hsu Ching-kuang instead pointed the finger at Hungary-based partner BAC Consulting KFT, which Gold Apollo had allowed to use its trademark. But a Hungarian government spokesman said BAC Consulting KFT was "a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary".
