Mysterious pagers link from Lebanon to Norway: Did Israel infiltrate the global supply chain?

Report by Rawad Taha, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

The enigma surrounding the pagers has now spanned across the globe, from Lebanon to Taiwan, Hungary, Bulgaria, and recently Norway. 

Investigators across the globe are working to unravel the mystery, with two prominent theories emerging. 

The first theory suggests that Israel intercepted the pagers after exiting the factories, with Israel allegedly compromising the supply chain by rigging the devices with explosives. The second, more alarming scenario proposes that Israel may be behind the entire deadly supply chain, controlling everything from manufacturing to distribution, using shell companies to cover its tracks. 

The only confirmed detail so far is the transfer of €1.6 million from the Bulgarian company Norta Global, owned by Norwegian-Indian businessman Rinson Jose, to the Hungarian company BAC, registered under Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono. BAC then outsourced the production and sale of the pagers to the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo.  

According to Reuters, the latest twist in the investigation came when Cristiana was last seen in her apartment in Budapest on Tuesday, the same day the explosions occurred. Her current whereabouts remain unknown. In a statement to the British newspaper Daily Mail, her former boyfriend described her as "secretive" about her business dealings during their relationship.

Rinson Jose, unlike Cristiana, was indeed an employee of an unrelated Norwegian company. 

However, he also left Norway on Tuesday, and no one has been able to reach him since. The growing mystery seems to strengthen the second theory—that Israel may be behind the entire lethal supply chain. 

Whether Cristiana, Rinson, or any other names that may emerge in the investigation were complicit or exploited involved remains unclear.  

Adding to the intrigue, the American news network ABC quoted an intelligence source suggesting that Israel had been planning this operation for 15 years.

Major questions remain unanswered: Where were the pagers manufactured, and how did they end up Lebanon?