Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese pager company, stated on Wednesday that its brand was licensed to Budapest-based BAC Consulting, which produced the pagers implicated in recent deadly explosions in Lebanon.
The blasts, which killed at least nine people and injured nearly 3,000, were reportedly triggered by devices used by Hezbollah members.
According to sources, explosives were allegedly planted in the pagers by Israel’s Mossad spy agency. Images analyzed by Reuters revealed that the destroyed devices bore characteristics consistent with Gold Apollo’s products.
Hsu Ching-kuang, founder and president of Gold Apollo, clarified that while the AR-924 model featured their branding, the design and production were solely the responsibility of BAC. He emphasized, “The product was not ours,” and expressed surprise over how the pagers were rigged to explode.
Despite his company’s involvement being limited to branding, Hsu indicated that Gold Apollo may pursue legal action against BAC, describing the incident as “very embarrassing” for his firm. He also noted that there had been issues with remittances from BAC, which raised concerns.
Taiwan’s economy ministry confirmed that there were no records of direct pager exports to Lebanon. Amid the unfolding situation, officials from the ministry and local police visited Gold Apollo’s offices for inquiries.
