The investigation seeks to clarify the possible involvement of a company owned by a Norwegian in the sale of the devices.
September 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Norwegian authorities confirmed on Wednesday that they have opened a “preliminary investigation” into reports that a Norwegian-owned company may be involved in selling thousands of ‘busca’ bombs to the Shiite militia-party Hezbollah, which exploded last week in Lebanon, leaving more than ten dead and more than 2,000 wounded.
“The Police Security Service (PST) has opened a preliminary investigation to determine whether there are grounds to open an investigation based on media reports that a Norwegian-owned company may have been involved in the delivery of pagers to Hezbollah,” said Haris Hrenovica, a prosecutor for the agency, in statements provided to Europa Press.
The agency’s decision comes after Bulgaria said last week that it was investigating the company Norta Global, based in the capital Sofia and founded in 2022 by Norwegian citizen Rinson Jose.
The Bulgarian National Security Agency (NSSA) stressed that the investigations indicated “without a doubt” that the ‘pagers’ were not manufactured, imported or exported from the European country, before adding that Norta Global “did not carry out any transactions over which Bulgaria has jurisdiction relating to the purchase or sale of goods.”
The first clues following the explosions led to Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo, which quickly addressed the suspicions by saying it had transferred manufacturing rights to a second company, BAC Consulting, based in Hungary. Taiwan carried out searches last week at the offices of both companies on the island.
However, the Hungarian government has indicated that BAC Consulting is a mere “commercial intermediary”, with no manufacturing capacity for the devices, and sources cited by the Bulgarian portal Telex have stated that it was in fact a Sofia-based company, Norta Global, which facilitated the sale of the devices delivered to Hezbollah.
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