Who Made Hezbollah Pagers? Amid Links To Taiwanese Firm, Lebanon Says They Were Made In Japan

As Lebanon saw two consecutive days of communication device explosions resulting in the death of over 40 people and injuries to hundreds, questions on who made the pagers were raised. Initially, there were reports that the pagers were made by a Taiwanese firm, which denied the links and pointed at a Hungarian firm. After Hungary denied the links, a Lebanese communication ministry spokesperson said that the pagers were an outdated model of Japanese firm, ICOM. Following the first wave of attack Tuesday, Reuters reported based on analysis of the images of the pagers that the stickers in them resembled the ones made by Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese manufacturing firm. Then, earlier on Wednesday, Gold Apollo had denied the claims, instead saying that the pagers were made by a Budapest-registered company, called BAC Consulting Firm The founder of Gold Apollo, who made the claims to CNN vehemently denying any links to Hezbollah, did not provide any evidence to support the claims.Meanwhile, another round of explosions, this time in walkie-talkies, hit parts of Lebanon on Wednesday. It has resulted in the death of at least 20 people, and injuries to over 450, as per Lebanon's health ministry. Amid that, Hungary issued a response to claims about BAC Consulting Group, saying that the country was in no way linked to the pagers that exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday. “Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said.Also read: How Did Pagers Explode In Lebanon? What We KnowThen, late on Wednesday, the ministry said that the IC-V2 radios that exploded were not supplied by a recognized agent and were not officially licensed. It added that the pagers had also not been vetted by Lebanon's security services. CNN reported that on the website of ICOM, it says that the IC-V82 model of pagers has been discontinued and all models are counterfeit.