Hunt for origins of Lebanon pager attack widens to Bulgaria, Norway | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
July 23, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2025
Hunt for origins of Lebanon pager attack widens to Bulgaria, Norway

World+Biz

Reuters
20 September, 2024, 01:35 pm
Last modified: 20 September, 2024, 01:40 pm

Related News

  • Bulgaria to get final green light to adopt euro in 2026
  • Lebanon says 1 killed, 25 wounded in strikes as Israel blames death on Hezbollah arms
  • Lebanon says 1 dead, 11 wounded in Israeli strike in south
  • Bangladeshis in Lebanon asked not to go out at night amid Iran-Israel conflict
  • Israeli military strikes Beirut's southern suburbs

Hunt for origins of Lebanon pager attack widens to Bulgaria, Norway

How and with whose help the pager attack was carried out was not yet known, although so far there were possible leads in Taiwan, Hungary and Bulgaria

Reuters
20 September, 2024, 01:35 pm
Last modified: 20 September, 2024, 01:40 pm
People gather outside a hospital, as hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
People gather outside a hospital, as hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Bulgaria and Norway became new focal points on Thursday of a global hunt for who supplied Hezbollah with the thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon this week in a deadly blow to the militant group.

Security sources said that Israel was responsible for the explosions on Tuesday that killed 12 people, injured more than 2,300 and raised the stakes in a growing conflict between the two sides. Israel has not directly commented on the attacks.

How and with whose help the pager attack was carried out was not yet known, although so far there were possible leads in Taiwan, Hungary and Bulgaria.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

It is not clear how and when the pagers were weaponised so they could be remotely detonated. The same question remains for the hundreds of hand-held radios used by Hezbollah that exploded on Wednesday in a second wave of attacks.

One theory is that the pagers were intercepted and hooked up with explosives after they left factories. Another is that Israel orchestrated the whole deadly supply chain.

Bulgarian authorities said on Thursday that its interior ministry and state security services had opened an investigation into a company's possible ties. They did not name the company they were investigating.

Local media reports said Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd had facilitated the sale of the pagers to Hezbollah. Citing security sources, national broadcaster bTV reported that 1.6 million euros related to the transaction passed through Bulgaria, and was sent to Hungary.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the claim.

Emails sent to a Norta email listed on Bulgarian company registration records were returned as undeliverable. The firm's founder declined to comment.

Images of destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters showed a format consistent with devices made by Taiwan's Gold Apollo. Gold Apollo said on Wednesday that the pagers were made by BAC Consulting, a company based in the Hungarian capital Budapest.

The owner and CEO of BAC Consulting, Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, did not return multiple requests for comment by phone and text message.

On Wednesday, she told NBC News that her company worked with Gold Apollo but that she had nothing to do with the making of the pagers. "I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong," she told NBC.

Hungarian news site Telex reported that the sale was facilitated by Norta Global Ltd, citing sources.

Norta's Bulgarian headquarters are registered at an apartment building in the capital Sofia that is also home to nearly 200 other companies, according to a local company registry. There was no sign of Norta.

A lawyer, Vladimir Kuzmanov, who said he represented the company, was present at the address but declined to respond to questions when approached by Reuters on Thursday.

Content on Norta Global's website, , was deleted on Thursday. The website previously had English, Bulgarian and Norwegian language versions, and advertised services including consulting, technology integration, recruitment and outsourcing. 

"Are you looking for an agile company to help you succeed or to find that tech solution just right for you? Look no further," the website had said, according to copies of the website reviewed by Reuters before it was altered.

Norta's founder, Rinson Jose, is based in Norway. He declined to comment on the pagers when reached by phone and hung up when asked about the Bulgarian business.

His neighbours in a quiet suburb of Oslo said they didn't know much about him. Amund Djuve, the CEO of DN Media, where Jose currently works, told Reuters he was aware of the reports and had alerted the police and security services. He said that Jose was travelling to the United States. 

"We are taking these matters very seriously," Djuve said.

Oslo police said it had initiated "preliminary enquiries into the information that had come to light".

Norway's domestic intelligence agency, PST, said it was aware of the situation and declined to comment further.

There was no evidence of a link between DN Media and Norta.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Barsony-Arcidiacono of BAC Consulting, the Budapest-based company that was also linked to the sale of the pagers, vacated her apartment in Budapest on Wednesday, a neighbour told Reuters. Her door was ajar on Wednesday but closed on Thursday morning, said a Reuters reporter at the scene. No one answered the doorbell.

A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah believed it was ordering the pagers from Gold Apollo and that they were produced in Asia, not Europe. 

The source said Hezbollah considered it much easier for Israel's Mossad spy agency to operate in Hungary. 

"It is possible that the Mossad created a European company," the source said.  

Lebanon / Bulgaria / Norway

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • The meeting is being held at the chief adviser’s official residence Jamuna. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Signs of conspiracies by defeated forces becoming visible: CA Yunus
  • Economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya. File photo: UNB
    Another govt exists within the interim administration: Debapriya
  • News of The Day, 23 JULY 2025
    News of The Day, 23 JULY 2025

MOST VIEWED

  • Screengrab/Video collected from Facebook
    CCTV footage shows how Air Force jet nosedived after technical malfunction
  • Photo: Collected
    Bangladeshi man jailed for life in UK for murdering wife in front of their baby
  • Why Bangladesh's capital market is poised for a bull run
    Why Bangladesh's capital market is poised for a bull run
  • ISPR clarifies crashed plane was battle aircraft, not training jet
    ISPR clarifies crashed plane was battle aircraft, not training jet
  • Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    Secretariat protest: 75 injured in police-protester clash over edu adviser's resignation for delaying HSC rescheduling
  • Exim Bank's former chairman Nazrul Islam Majumder being taken to court on 22 July 2025. Photo: Collected
    Will repay all money if granted bail, won’t run away, ex-Exim Bank chair Nazrul tells court

Related News

  • Bulgaria to get final green light to adopt euro in 2026
  • Lebanon says 1 killed, 25 wounded in strikes as Israel blames death on Hezbollah arms
  • Lebanon says 1 dead, 11 wounded in Israeli strike in south
  • Bangladeshis in Lebanon asked not to go out at night amid Iran-Israel conflict
  • Israeli military strikes Beirut's southern suburbs

Features

Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

Aggrieved nation left with questions as citizens rally to help at burn institute

1d | Panorama
Photo: TBS

Mourning turns into outrage as Milestone students seek truth and justice

22h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

Uttara, Jatrabari, Savar and more: The killing fields that ran red with July martyrs’ blood

1d | Panorama
Despite all the adversities, girls from the hill districts are consistently pushing the boundaries to earn repute and make the nation proud. Photos: TBS

Ghagra: Where dreams rise from dust for Bangladesh women's football

3d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

News of The Day, 23 JULY 2025

News of The Day, 23 JULY 2025

12m | TBS News of the day
What Are the Parties Saying About the Appointment of Other Constitutional Bodies?

What Are the Parties Saying About the Appointment of Other Constitutional Bodies?

22m | TBS Today
Govt mulls allowing trade unions with 20 workers, industry leaders warn of disorder

Govt mulls allowing trade unions with 20 workers, industry leaders warn of disorder

1h | TBS Insight
Food prices are rising due to climate change

Food prices are rising due to climate change

37m | Others
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net