Taiwanese and Hungarian companies deny making pagers

Explosions in Lebanon killed 12 people, including two children, and injured 2,800 others. The militant group Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack.

The New York Times, citing US officials and other unnamed officials, reported that Israel planted explosives in a batch of pagers from the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. Prosecutors in Taiwan have opened an investigation.

A man's bag explodes in a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 17. Photo: Social Media

Gold Apollo, however, denied manufacturing the devices and instead blamed its Budapest-based partner, BAC Consulting KFT. Gold Apollo head Hsu Ching-kuang said the pagers were “100 percent not” made in Taiwan.

“They are not our products from start to finish. How can we produce products that are not ours?” Hsu told reporters in Taipei.

In a separate statement, the company said it had entered into a "long-term partnership" with the Hungarian company to use its trademark and that the pager model mentioned in the media reports was "manufactured and sold by BAC".

But BAC Consulting CEO Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono told NBC News that her company was working with Gold Apollo but did not manufacture the pagers. "I don't make pagers. I'm just a middleman," NBC quoted Barsony-Arcidiacono as saying by phone.

According to legal documents seen by AFP, Barsony-Arcidiacono appears to be the sole member of the company, which was founded in 2022, and which also reported annual revenues of 210 million forints ($590,000) and profits of around 18 million forints.

The New York Times reported that about 3,000 pagers were ordered from Gold Apollo, mostly the AR924 model. Gold Apollo said: "Our company only provides a trademark license and is not involved in the design or manufacturing of this product."

"We have handed the case over to the chief prosecutor of the national security team for active investigation. Our office will clarify the facts of the case as soon as possible," Taipei's Shilin District Prosecutors' Office said in a statement.

A source close to Hezbollah, earlier told AFP that "the pagers that exploded were part of a shipment of 1,000 devices that Hezbollah had recently imported" and appeared to have been "sabotaged from the start".

There has been no reaction from Israel yet to this terrifying and seemingly cinematic series of electronic device explosions.

Hoang Anh (according to AFP, NYT, CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/cac-cong-ty-dai-loan-va-hungary-phu-nhan-viec-san-xuat-may-nhan-tin-trong-vu-kich-no-hang-loat-o-lebanon-post312957.html