Thirty-seven-year-old Rinson Jose, a Norwegian citizen who migrated from Wayanad in Kerala, has become the focal point of investigation in the wake of reports linking Sofia-based Bulgarian company Norta Global Limited to the sale of pagers used to attack Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon.
Bulgarian state security agency DANS had announced on Thursday that it was working with the interior ministry to probe the role of an unnamed company registered in Bulgaria in the terror attacks that rocked Lebanon, according to The Cradle.co.
CBS News reviewed records and reported that Norta Global Ltd was registered as a company in Bulgaria in April 2022 with its sole owner listed as a Norwegian citizen named Rinson Jose.
Onmanorama spoke to sources in Norway who said that Rinson had earlier run a job consultancy firm and was very active among the Malayali community there, organising festival gatherings and football club. His Linkedin profile shows that he is employed with DN Media group since March 2022. The profile also shows him as an entrepreneur running NortaLink, an IT services, consulting, procurement and recruiting company. He did his MBA from Pondicherry University and Masters in International social welfare and health policy from Oslo Metropolitan University. He had also served as a teacher with Poor Servants of Divine Providence (PSDP). Norta Global Limited is considered to be a shell company of NortaLink. He is now reportedly in the US.
Onmanorama sent a mail to Rinson seeking comments but there was no response. A call to his number also went unanswered. LBC international reported that approximately 1.6 million euros linked to Norta Global flowed through Bulgaria and were transferred to Hungary, suggesting that the company's role may have been primarily financial rather than operational. Bulgarian state agency for national security has also confirmed that no customs operations involving pagers took place in Bulgaria.
P L Shyju, DySP Special Branch,Wayanad, told Onmanorama that they have started gathering information about Rinson after receiving reports about his suspected involvement in the Lebanon attack.
Back in his village Ondayangadi near Mananthavady in Kerala's Wayanad district, his family has been caught unawares by reports of his suspected links with the pager attack in Lebanon. Special branch sleuths and local police visited the house but none of them officially quizzed the parents of Rinson.
Police did a ground check in the morning about the family and the details regarding their financial conditions.
An ex-seminarian, Rinson has been in Norway for more than a decade. The family doesn't know about his company or other business details. The local people also have a good opinion about the family. Jose Moothedam, the father of Rinson, was a tailor and had worked in a tailoring shop at Mananthavady. Even now he does his job and is known as 'Tailor Jose' in the locality.
Panicked by calls, family kept the doors and gate shut and remained at home since morning. When the police in plainclothes and media personnel attempted to contact them, Jose said through the half-open window that they didn't know anything regarding their son's involvement in the attack. Thankachan, paternal uncle of Rinson, said the family tried to contact him and his wife but couldn't be reached.
“It was in November that he visited us. He stayed for a couple of months and returned in January. Graduated from Mary Matha College, Mananthavady, Rinson completed his MBA and went to Norway as a caretaker and later shifted to some business firms. "We don't know about his job or his business," said Thankachan. He used to call the family every day and when the family members tried to contact him on Friday, he didn't respond.
Aju John, a cousin of Rinson, said that he used to call him once in a while. “He never told me about a company he owns in Bulgaria or any of his business relationships there. We are very much worried as it is linked with the attack on terrorist outfits,” he said.
Rinson's twin brother Jinson is working in the UK and his sister is in Ireland.
The pager explosions in Lebanon, allegedly triggered by Israel's spy agency Mosad, had killed several people and wounded thousands this week.
Onmanorama has reached out to Amund Djuve, the CEO of DN Media where Rinson is currently employed and is awaiting a response.