Flutter plugin running fine when launched from Editor but giving an error when built in release app

Question

I have written a Flutter plugin to implement ACS SmartCardReaders. All works fine when I build from VSCode to my device, but the plugin throws an error in the following function when I build a release version.

To be more precise, bluetoothSmartCard.getFactory() returns null whereas it returns a TerminaleFactory when I build from VSCode to my device.

I should add that bluetoothSmartCard.getManager() returns the BluetoothTerminalManager.

I am at a loss to understand why this may happen. Here is the link to the Plugin repo on GitHub.

    fun connectToDevice(
        activity: Activity, 
        context: Context, 
        driver: Driver, 
        cardTerminalType: Int, 
        timeoutSeconds: Int,
    ) {
        this.activity = activity
        this.driver = driver
        this.context = context
        this.cardTerminalType = cardTerminalType
        val bluetoothSmartCard: BluetoothSmartCard = BluetoothSmartCard.getInstance(context)

        mManager = bluetoothSmartCard.getManager()
        if (mManager == null) {
            Log.e("$TAG connectToDevice", "mManager cannot be null")
            val errorMessage = "[ERROR]/[SmartCardReader.kt]/[connectToDevice] : mManager cannot be null\n"
            logDataNotifier.updateState(errorMessage, methodChannel)
            deviceConnectionStatusNotifier.updateState(DEVICE_CONNECTION_STATE_ERROR, methodChannel)
            return
        }

        mFactory = bluetoothSmartCard.getFactory()
        if (mFactory == null) {
            Log.e("$TAG connectToDevice", "mFactory cannot be null")
            val errorMessage = "[ERROR]/[SmartCardReader.kt]/[connectToDevice] : mFactory cannot be null\n"
            logDataNotifier.updateState(errorMessage, methodChannel)
            deviceConnectionStatusNotifier.updateState(DEVICE_CONNECTION_STATE_ERROR, methodChannel)
            return
        }

        startScan(timeoutSeconds)

    }