Taiwan firm denies making pagers that detonated in Lebanon

Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based manufacturer that produces pagers, denied making the explosives-laden wireless devices which were detonated across Lebanon, killing at least nine people and injuring nearly 3,000 others. The company said the devices used in Tuesday’s blasts were made by a Budapest-based company called BAC which has a licence to use the Taiwan firm’s brand name.
Addressing reporters at the Gold Apollo’s office in the city of New Taipei, Hsu Ching-Kuang, founder and president of the company, said that the “product is not ours. It only had our brand on it”.
“We may not be a large company, but we are a responsible one. This is very embarrassing,” news agency Reuters quoted Hsu as saying.
The company chief stressed that he did not have any knowledge as to how the pagers were rigged with explosives.
According to a Reuters report, the police arrived at the New Taipei offices while Hsu was meeting reporters.
Echoing Hsu’s remarks, Gold Apollo said in a statement, “According to the cooperation agreement, we authorise BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC.”
The statements come after a Lebanese security source told Reuters news agency that the Iran-backed Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Gold Apollo.
The source identified the model of one exploded pager as the AP924 variant. Images of the damaged pagers also revealed a design and stickers on the back consistent with those produced by Gold Apollo.
In the statement, the Taiwanese manufacturer said the AR-924 model was produced and sold by BAC.
“We only provide brand trademark authorisation and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product,” it added.
Hezbollah militants have been using pagers as a low-tech means of communication in an attempt to evade Israeli location tracking.
On Tuesday, Pagers, wireless communication devices used by thousands of Hezbollah, exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and parts of Syria.
Nearly 100 blasts were also reported in Syria.