Deadly Pagers Linked to Lebanon Blasts ‘Not Made in Taiwan’, Asserts Economy Minister
07:09 GMT 20.09.2024 (Updated: 09:39 GMT 20.09.2024)
© AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
Subscribe
In the wake of the booby-trapped pager attack in Lebanon and the subsequent wave of walkie-talkie detonations across the country, the search continues for the origins of the weaponized devices.
Components used in thousands of pagers that detonated in Lebanon were not manufactured in Taiwan, the country’s economy minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters.
"The components are (mainly) low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries," he said on Friday, reiterating that he could “say with certainty they were not made in Taiwan."
As part of the investigation into the two waves of deadly blasts that claimed the lives of 37 people and wounded about 3,000 in Lebanon, authorities in Taiwan questioned the president and founder of the Taiwanese pager company Gold Apollo.
Hsu Ching-kuang has insisted that his company did not make the pagers used by Hezbollah that exploded on Tuesday. He pointed out that the pagers were manufacured by Budapest-based company BAC Consulting KFT which has a license to use its brand. However, there have been reports claiming the Hungarian company was acting as an intermediary for a Bulgarian company called Norta Global.
A sign featuring the names of several companies on the door of a house where a Hungarian company that allegedly manufactured pagers that exploded in Lebanon is headquartered in Budapest.
© AP Photo / Denes Erdos
Pager explosions in Lebanon indicate an apparent 'problem in the logistics and security services of Hezbollah' - security and political analyst
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) September 19, 2024
“It seems that after Hassan Nasrallah called for leaving the smartphones and starting using pagers, human couriers or landlines, it… pic.twitter.com/mis3l1oSCx
As to the hundreds of Hezbollah-used walkie-talkies that exploded on Wednesday, Japanese manufacturer Icom said the devices appeared to be a discontinued model that was exported abroad, including to the Middle East, between 2004 and 2014.
“We can’t rule out the possibility that they are fakes, but there is also a chance the products are our IC-V82 model,” Icom’s director Yoshiki Enomoto was quoted as saying by Japanese media.
“The production of the batteries needed to operate the main unit has also been discontinued, and a hologram seal to distinguish counterfeit products was not attached, so it is not possible to confirm whether the product shipped from our company,” Icom said in a statement on its website. Icom asserted that all of its radios are manufactured “under a strict management system” at a production site in Japan.
After questioning witnesses, Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei is to conduct searches of several locations of Taiwanese firms Gold Apollo and Apollo System, a spokesperson told reporters.
Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
© AP Photo / Hussein Malla
Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities have accused Israeli intelligence of carrying out the series of coordinated explosions of electronic devices.
According to statements from the Hezbollah movement, whose members use pagers as a closed communication system the least susceptible to hacking and wiretapping, the devices were delayed for three months in transit. The movement suspects that during this time Israel intercepted and implanted explosives in the devices. Reports have also suggested that Israel set off the devices because they believed Hezbollah fighters were starting to notice something was off about them.
Lebanon intends to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in an international court following the deadly explosions, Lebanese Minister for migrant affairs Issam Sharafeddine told Sputnik.
20 September, 00:13 GMT
