The Norwegian Security Police (PST) has found no grounds for further investigation into Norway’s involvement in the supply of pagers to the Lebanese Hezbollah, which exploded in September, causing dozens of casualties and thousands of injuries.
The Norwegian PST launched a preliminary investigation into Norway’s possible involvement in the case after it was revealed that a Norwegian was listed as the owner of a Bulgarian company under investigation in Bulgaria for possible links to the incident.
“The overall assessment of the investigation conducted by PST indicates that there are no grounds to initiate a regular investigation within the scope of our mandate,” said Police Prosecutor Garis Grenovitsa from the PST spokesperson’s office to Reuters on Monday.
The Bulgarian security agency stated on September 20 that it had “definitively established” that none of the pagers used in the attack in Lebanon were manufactured or exported from Bulgaria.
The Norwegian owner of the Bulgarian firm under investigation in Bulgaria, 39-year-old Rinson Shosse, left Norway for the United States on September 17, the same day the pagers exploded in Lebanon. He worked in the sales department at the Norwegian company DN Media Group, which filed a missing persons report with the police.
The police reported that the case of his disappearance was closed on November 5 after Shosse contacted his employer. Norwegian authorities did not disclose Shosse’s whereabouts.
According to media reports, U.S. intelligence believes that Israel may have planned an operation to detonate electronic devices in Lebanon through front companies for at least 15 years.
