Pager explosions in Lebanon: Taiwanese prosecutors open investigations against manufacturers

Taiwanese investigators are questioning two people, including the chairman of pager manufacturer Gold Apollo, Hsu Ching-kuang. Traces of the bombs that exploded in Lebanon lead to Hungary, Bulgaria, Norway and Austria.

Regarding the source of the pagers that exploded in Lebanon, Taiwan’s prosecutors have launched investigations into possible manufacturers. Taiwanese investigators said Friday that two people, including Gold Apollo chairman Hsu Ching-kuang, have been questioned as witnesses. At least 12 people were killed and 2,800 injured when pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded on Tuesday.

Gold Apollo came under scrutiny after The New York Times reported that Israel planted explosives in a shipment of the company’s pagers. Hsu denied any connection between his company and the devices. They were manufactured by licensees in Europe. According to prosecutors, Hsu and a woman from another company were questioned several times on Thursday and then fired. The investigation office assigned by the prosecutor’s office said investigators would “clarify as quickly as possible” whether Taiwanese companies were involved in the explosions. Four buildings in Taipei, located in areas where Gold Apollo and Apollo Systems are headquartered, were also being examined.

Taiwanese woman had ties to Hungarian company BAC

According to Taiwanese media, the Apollo Systems employee interviewed, identified as Wu Yu-jen or Teresa Wu, has ties to Hungarian company BAC Consulting Kft., which manufactured the pagers that later exploded in Lebanon, Gold Apollo said Wednesday. Gold Apollo has a “long-term partnership” with Budapest-based BAC to use its brand, the company said. The model mentioned in the media reports is “manufactured and sold by BAC.”

Hungarian company denies involvement

A Hungarian government spokesman then said that BAC had no production facilities in Hungary. The head of the company, which presents itself on its website as a consulting firm, also denied to NBC that it manufactured the devices and said it was merely acting as a broker. The BAC Consulting homepage was removed shortly after the reference to the pagers went public. According to Hungarian media reports, the company, which was founded in 2022 according to the Hungarian Commercial Register, is registered in a single-family home in Budapest, along with a number of other businesses. It therefore has no office space or on-site representatives.

Bulgarian Secret Service: Pagers not provided

There have also been investigations into the pager explosions in Bulgaria. The Secret Service said it was investigating the possible involvement of a Sofia-based company called Norta Global. According to media reports, this company, which was also founded in 2022 according to the Bulgarian commercial register, does not have its own office — like BAC in Budapest — but is registered at a shared address with nearly 200 other companies. Bulgaria’s domestic intelligence agency DANS confirmed on Friday that the pagers used in Lebanon were not imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria.

According to the company registry, the owner of Norta Global is said to be a man based in Norway. The company’s website, globalnorta.com, was no longer available on Friday. The company’s founder, who lives in Oslo, declined to comment to Reuters by phone and hung up. The Norwegian media company DN Media, which employs him, confirmed to the news agency that it had learned of the reports and contacted police. The man is said to have left for the United States.

His connection to Austria: A man named “Tom”

The media also reported evidence of Austria. Hsu, a board member of Gold Apollo, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that a representative of the Hungarian company BAC Consulting Kft, which designed and manufactured the pagers, was based in Austria. However, Hsu never met the Austrian representative named “Tom” in person, but only spoke to him via video. The man had set up production of pagers bearing the Gold Apollo logo. Hsu said he had not delivered to “Tom” for “almost three years.” At first it remained unclear how “Tom” could have pretended to be a representative of a company that was apparently founded in Hungary much later.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for the alleged attack, but Israel itself has not officially commented on it. According to information from the secret intelligence community in the New York Times, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad itself manufactured the pagers and transferred them to the Lebanese militias through a network of front companies. Hezbollah has recently started using pagers for internal communications for security reasons. These simple communication devices cannot be located and do not have access to the Internet. (APA/AFP)