Norway has issued an international wanted notice for a man linked to a Bulgaria-based company suspected of being involved in providing exploding electronic devices to the militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon. This notice is part of a widespread investigation aimed at unraveling how thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies were rigged to explode and tracing their path to Lebanon.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have accused Israel of orchestrating the coordinated attacks that resulted in the deaths of at least 39 individuals and injuries to over 3,000, including civilians. Israel, however, has not confirmed nor denied any involvement in the incidents.
The Norwegian National Criminal Investigation Service spokesperson, Åste Dahle Sundet, stated that an international wanted notice had been issued on behalf of the Oslo police. The agency did not disclose the man’s name or nationality but confirmed that he was associated with a Norwegian company. Reports indicate that the 39-year-old man traveled to the United States last week and went missing upon arrival. He was reported as missing on Wednesday.
The CEO of the man’s employer, Norway-based DN Group, expressed concern over the serious allegations against their employee, emphasizing that the individual’s alleged private activities were unknown to the company and unrelated to its operations. The man, who holds a Norwegian passport, has resided in Norway for 12 years but was born in another country. Norwegian news agencies have identified him as one of the founders of the Bulgarian company purportedly linked to supplying the explosive pagers to Hezbollah.
Apart from the Bulgarian company, the Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo, whose name was found on the pagers, clarified that it had authorized Budapest-based BAC Consulting to use its brand for the devices but held the Hungarian company responsible for their manufacturing and design. In response, Hungary’s Special Service for National Security stated that the CEO of BAC Consulting had been interviewed multiple times as part of the investigation and denied the company’s involvement in rigging the devices to explode.
Norway’s domestic security agency, PST, has been looking into any potential connections between a Norwegian national and the company that supplied the explosive pagers to Lebanon. PST clarified that it was not a formal investigation and the individual was not under concrete suspicion at the moment. The investigation into the exploding electronic devices case continues to unfold, with international cooperation playing a key role in uncovering the details surrounding the tragic events in Lebanon.