Pager Blasts: In Lebanon, about 20 people died and a large number of people were injured due to the explosion of thousands of pagers, most of whom are said to be Hezbollah fighters. There is a discussion going on all over the world about which company the pagers reached Hezbollah through. Amidst all this, a surprising Kerala connection of these blasts has also come to light.
In fact, Hezbollah has blamed Israel for these blasts. Israel has not yet directly taken responsibility for this. After the blasts, the world is trying to understand how Israeli spy agencies carry out blasts through pagers. Surprisingly, in the web of companies and shell firms, the name of a person born in Kerala has also surfaced, who is now a Norwegian citizen.
Rinsan, a resident of Kerala, owned Norta Global Company
Telex, a Hungarian media outlet, reported that Malayali and now Norwegian citizen Renas Jose is being investigated for his involvement in Tuesday’s pager explosion in Lebanon. According to Telex, a Bulgarian company, Norta Global Ltd, was behind the pager deal. Norta Global was founded by Norwegian citizen Rinson Jose. Rinas Jose is originally from Mananthavady in Wayanad, Kerala and last visited his hometown in 2013.
Several media outlets in Kerala reported on Friday that Rinson Jose was born in Wayanad and moved to Norway after completing his MBA. Some local TV channels also spoke to his relatives.
Rinsan’s father is a tailor
According to Manorama Online report, Rinson’s father, Jose Moothedam, is a tailor and works in a tailor shop in Mananthavady. He said he is known as ‘Tailor Jose’ in the area. An investigation by Bulgarian security agency SANS found that no shipments passed through the country that approved Rinson Jose and his Norta Global.
Who is Rinson
Even before Bulgaria’s National Security Agency gave Rinson Jose a clean chit, there is a lot of talk about him in India, especially in his home state Kerala. Rinson’s cousin Aju John told Manorama Online, “He never told me about any company in Bulgaria or any business relationship there. We are very worried because it is related to attacks on terrorist organizations.”
Local media also reported that Rinson has a twin brother Jinson who is in the UK and a sister in Ireland. It was revealed that Rinson came to India in November last year and went back in January.
“Rinsan graduated from Mary Matha College, Mananthavady. He completed his MBA and went to Norway as a caretaker and later joined some business firms. We don’t know about his job or his occupation,” his uncle Thankachan told Manorama Online.
Amidst all this, it is interesting to know how a man born in Kerala joined the list of people who may be linked to pagers in some way or the other. After thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded, everyone’s attention turned to who the pager manufacturing company is.
Web of shell companies
It is a complex web of companies spanning continents. One reason for the complexity may be that the Israelis created shell companies not only to deceive Hezbollah, but also to confound any investigators. The pagers that exploded with Hezbollah members bore the brand name of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo.
However, Gold Apollo founder and chairman Hsu Ching-kuang said that “the product is not ours. It only had our brand on it.” Gold Apollo’s chairman linked the exploding pagers to a Hungary-based company, BAC Consulting. Hsu said those pagers were made by the Budapest-based company, which had a three-year licensing agreement with his firm.
However, sources told Hungarian media outlet Telex that BAC Consulting was merely an intermediary in the transaction. Telex reported that BAC did not do any work, did not even have an office, and was only registered at the address. Most likely, BAC Consulting may be a shell company set up by Israel.
The telex said that “Cristiana Barsoni-Arcidiacono, managing director of BAC Consulting, entered into a deal with Norta Global Ltd, a Bulgarian company based in Sofia.” The Bulgaria-based Norta Global was reportedly founded by Kerala-born Rinson Jose, who was born in Wayanad, Kerala.
How Rinson Jose came under scrutiny
According to Telex, “although on paper it was BAC Consulting that signed the contract with Gold Apollo, it was actually Norta Global [Pager] behind the deal.” It was the Middle East-focused website The Cradle that linked Norta Global to Rinson Jose.
According to The Cradle report, Norta Global was founded in 2022 by Norwegian citizen Rinson Joss. It was registered with the “headquarters service provider” at a residential address in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, which hosts 196 other companies.
The investigation conducted by Bulgaria’s National Security Agency (SANS) gave a clean chit to Rinson Jose and his Norta Global.
It is still not clear who actually manufactured the pagers used by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. In the complex web of companies, a Kerala-born man also came under the scanner. However, the relief is that he and his company have been acquitted of charges of being involved in the deadly blasts.