How thousands of pagers became deadly weapons in Lebanon

09/23/2024 / By Richard Brown

How did thousands of pagers become deadly weapons, killing 12 and injuring at least 2,750 people in Lebanon last week? This question lingers in the aftermath of a surprise attack on Hezbollah, widely attributed to Israel.

Emerging details trace a complex path from Taiwan to suburban Budapest. Images from the scene show the branding of Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese electronics firm. Its founder, Hsu Ching-kuang, confirmed the pagers were indeed from his company but manufactured by a licensed partner, BAC Consulting, based in Budapest.

Hsu revealed that his dealings with BAC began three years ago when he was approached by a Taiwanese woman named Teresa. After two months of negotiations, he agreed to supply pagers to BAC and allow them to use his trademark. Payments reportedly came from a Middle Eastern bank account that faced multiple blocks.

In Hungary, BAC Consulting was registered in May 2022 under Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, whose company reportedly had minimal assets and no physical presence at its listed address. When approached about the incident, Barsony-Arcidiacono claimed to be an intermediary and distanced herself from the pagers’ production.

The Hungarian government later confirmed that BAC is a trading intermediary with no manufacturing capabilities in Hungary, asserting the devices had never been in the country. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s economic ministry found no records of Gold Apollo exporting pagers to Lebanon since early 2022.

Reports: Israel’s Mossad may have planted explosives within the pagers months ago

As for the attack itself, it began around 3:45 p.m. when Hezbollah members’ pagers exploded, resulting in chaos and injuries throughout Lebanon and Syria. Reports suggest that Israel’s Mossad may have planted explosives within the pagers shipped months prior. Sources indicate that about 1,000 to 2,000 of the 5,000 pagers ordered detonated. (Related: Israel launches PAGER ATTACK on Lebanon – exploding mobile devices kill nine, wound more than 2,700.)

In the wake of this tragedy, Hsu announced plans to sue BAC Consulting as the investigation into the lethal pagers unfolds.

On Sept. 18, CEO Hsu Ching-kuang of Gold Apollo, the distributor of the AR-924 beepers linked to Hezbollah, held a press conference clarifying the device’s origins. He stated that the pagers were manufactured under license by BAC Consulting.

“The product was not ours; it simply bore our brand,” Hsu explained. He emphasized that while BAC was authorized to use the Gold Apollo trademark for sales in specific regions, the design and manufacturing were entirely handled by BAC.

Hsu also noted payment issues with BAC, indicating that transactions were routed through the Middle East. BAC Consulting Kft., based in Budapest, is headed by Cristiana Rosaria Bársony-Arcidiacono, who also works for the European Commission, according to her LinkedIn profile.

However, Telex has since reported that BAC Consulting acted merely as an intermediary in the transaction. The company has no physical office and is registered only with an office provider. BAC was in contact with Norta Global Ltd., a Bulgarian company that facilitated the deal.

Telex further revealed that the pagers from Taiwan were not imported by BAC but by Norta Global, which sold and shipped them to Hezbollah. Owned by a Norwegian, Norta Global was registered in 2022 and ostensibly specializes in project management.

Zoltán Kovács, the government’s international spokesman, confirmed that the implicated company is merely a trading intermediary with no manufacturing presence in Hungary.

“The devices have never been in Hungary,” he said, adding that Hungarian national security services are collaborating with relevant international agencies to find out where they came from.

Learn more about the conflict in Israel at IsraelCollapse.com.

Watch this report from Al Jazeera discussing Hezbollah’s recent missile barrage involving over 200 rockets aimed at military installations in Israel.

This video is from the channel Cynthia’s Pursuit of Truth on Brighteon.com.