Exploding Pagers Made in Hungary, Says Taiwanese Firm

Pagers on display at a meeting room at the Gold Apollo company building in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on Sept. 18, 2024. Ann Wang/Reuters

The Taiwanese pager manufacturer whose branding appeared on remnants of beepers that exploded in Lebanon says that they were manufactured by another company in Hungary.

The model of pagers used in detonations in Lebanon was made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting, Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo claimed on Wednesday.

It said it had only licensed out its brand to the company and was not involved in the production of the devices.

Thousands of people across Lebanon were injured as their handheld pagers exploded on Sept. 17, Lebanese state media and security officials said.

Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo.

“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,” Gold Apollo founder and president, Hsu Ching-kuang, told reporters at the company’s offices in the northern Taiwanese city of New Taipei on Wednesday.

The company said in a statement that the AR-924 model was produced and sold by BAC.

Gold Apollo authorized “BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC,” the statement said.

Very Strange

Hsu said that “The remittance was very strange,” he said, adding that payments had come through the Middle East.

He added that he did not know how the pagers could have been rigged to explode.

While he was meeting with reporters, police officials arrived at the company. Officials from Taiwan’s economy ministry also visited Gold Apollo.

The ministry said in a statement that there was no record of direct pager exports from Taiwan to Lebanon.

Hsu also said Gold Apollo was a victim of the incident and planned to sue the licensee.

“We may not be a large company but we are a responsible one,” he said. “This is very embarrassing.”

“There is an agent in Europe whom we have cooperated with for three years, they are the agent for all of our products,” Hsu told NBC News.

“We are not a big company, but we are a responsible company that cares about our products,” he added.

BAC Consulting has not responded to a request for comment from The Epoch Times at the time of publication.

Unclear

By Tuesday evening local time, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that some 2,800 people were injured in the pager blasts and eight more were killed, including a child. The National News Agency reported that most people injured in the mass pager explosions sustained injuries to their hands.

TOPSHOT - A photo taken on September 18, 2024, in Beirut's southern suburbs shows the remains of exploded pagers on display at an undisclosed location. Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on September 17, killing at least nine people and wounding around 2,800 in blasts the Iran-backed militant group blamed on Israel. (Photo by AFP) Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images

Among those reported killed on Tuesday was Mahdi Ammar, the son of a Hezbollah-affiliated member of the Lebanese Parliament named Ali Ammar.

The Epoch Times could not immediately confirm who had been injured in the pager blasts.

Hezbollah has clashed with Israeli forces across the Lebanon–Israel border for months, in a skirmish that has shown signs of escalating into a wider conflict.

In a Tuesday statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his council of ministers described the pager explosions as an act of criminal Israeli aggression and a serious violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Mikati said he also reached out to Ammar on Tuesday to express condolences for the death of his son.

The Israel Defense Forces declined a request for comment.

Reuters and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.