Norway has issued an international wanted notice for a man linked to a Bulgaria-based company that may have been involved in the dissemination of exploding electronic devices to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The bombings killed at least 39 people and wounded more than 3,000. The man, who has been reported missing, worked for a Norwegian company called DN Group and has not been in contact with his employer or authorities since last Wednesday. The CEO of DN Group has stated that the allegations against the employee are unrelated to the company’s activities.
The man in question holds a Norwegian passport and has lived in Norway for 12 years, but was born in another country. He is described as one of the founders of the Bulgarian company allegedly connected to supplying the pagers to Hezbollah. Investigations have revealed that the devices used in the attacks in Lebanon were manufactured by a Taiwanese company called Gold Apollo, which had authorized a Hungarian-based firm to use its brand for the devices. The Hungarian firm, BAC Consulting, has denied any involvement in rigging the devices to explode.
Hungary’s Special Service for National Security has interviewed the CEO of BAC Consulting multiple times as part of their investigation, but they believe the company was not responsible for the modification of the explosive devices. Norway’s domestic security agency, PST, is also looking into whether the Norwegian national linked to the Bulgaria-based company had any involvement in the sale of the pagers that exploded in Lebanon. There is currently no concrete suspicion against the man, and the investigation is ongoing.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for the attacks, but Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Authorities from multiple countries are working together to piece together the trail of the exploding electronic devices to Lebanon. The discovery of the pagers and walkie-talkies rigged to explode has raised concerns about the potential use of similar devices in future attacks. The international wanted notice for the man linked to the Bulgaria-based company is part of a broader effort to uncover the origins and supply chain of the explosive devices used in the attacks in Lebanon.
