Bulgaria is investigating a company linked to the sale of drones to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that exploded this week in a coordinated attack, the country’s security service said today.

Bulgaria’s state security agency, DANS, said in a statement it was working with the interior ministry to investigate the role of a company registered in Bulgaria, without naming it.

“Inquiries are being made with the tax office and the interior ministry to determine the possible role of a company registered in Bulgaria in providing communications equipment to Hezbollah,” the agency said in its statement.

In contrast, Bulgaria’s state security service rules out the possibility that the whistleblowers arrived legally in the European Union through Bulgaria as “no customs control of the products in question has been recorded” by officials.

Bulgarian media reported that a Sofia-based company called Norta Global Ltd had facilitated the sale of the buzzers, which exploded in various parts of Lebanon on Tuesday, killing 12 people and injuring 4,000 others.

Reuters notes that it cannot yet confirm the connection with Norta Global.

Company officials have not yet responded to requests for comment. A lawyer who registered the company’s address in an apartment building in Sofia did not respond to questions from Reuters.

Photos of damaged buzzers analyzed by Reuters showed a design consistent with buzzers made by Taiwanese company Gold Apollo.

Gold Apollo said yesterday, Wednesday, that the buzzers were manufactured by Budapest-based BAC Consulting.

But Hungarian website Telex reported, citing unnamed sources, that Norta Global imported the bombers and arranged their delivery to the Lebanese Islamist group.

Norta Global, which is registered in the commercial register of Sofia, has not yet been able to be contacted by AFP either.

The company, founded in April 2022 by Norwegian Rinson Jose, recorded a turnover of around €650,000 last year for management consultancy services to non-EU clients, according to its tax return