Even as the fatal explosions of hundreds of pagers in Lebanon and Syria continue to stir the regional and global politics, it has been reported in media that Israeli spy agency Mossad planted explosives in the devices before they were imported into Lebanon and mostly used by members of militant group Hezbollah.
The New York Times has said citing unnamed officials from the US that Mossad planted ‘as little as one to two ounces’ (about 60 grams) of explosive materials next to Lithium batteries of the AR-294 pagers manufactured under the brand name of a Taiwanese company named Gold Apollo.
The Hezbollah, said the NYT, had placed an order for these pagers from Gold Apollo. The news outlet also reported that a switch was also embedded in the pagers so that explosions can be triggered remotely.
On Tuesday afternoon, these pagers mostly owned by Hezbollah operatives exploded nearly at the same time across Lebanon and Syria. Lebanon’s state media quoted country’s health minister to say that at least 11 people were killed and more than 2,800 were injured.
Also read: Pager blasts kill at least 9, injure 2,800 in Lebanon; Hezbollah blames Israel
Hezbollah as well as Lebanese and Iranian government have blamed Israel, which has neither accepted nor denied responsibility for the explosions.
Meanwhile, Gold Apollo has denied having manufactured the exploding pagers and has clarified that although it had licensed its brand name for the pagers, a company in Budapest did the actual manufacturing, the US media reported.
⚡️Lebanese sources: Hundreds of pager devices exploded, causing hundreds of injuries. These explosions are the result of a breach. pic.twitter.com/RRbwOQ3adM
— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) September 17, 2024
A statement from Gold Apollo, as reported by ABC News, said that a company named BAC Consulting KFT was given the job of manufacturing the pagers.
“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize 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,” said Gold Apollo in the statement.
At the time of publishing of this story, there was no comment from BAC Consulting KFT on this.
(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and Connected to India)
