ALBAWABA - Hsu Ching-Kuang, the founder of Gold Apollo, the firm located in Taiwan and blamed to be behind the pagers used by Hezbollah, spoke to media stating that his company did not produce the pagers that were used in the explosions that occurred in Lebanon on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
On Tuesday, pagers that were being used by members of Hezbollah exploded simultaneously throughout Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of at least 9 people and injuries to at least 3,000 more including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon.
An individual who is close to Hezbollah and who asked not to be named told AFP that Israeli intelligence had gained entry to the manufacturing process, integrating an explosive element and a remote activating system into the pagers without arousing any suspicions.
According to sources who are acquainted with the situation, the pagers that were tarnished were from a fresh shipment that the resistance had received in the most recent days, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Reuters conducted an analysis of images of damaged pagers and found that the format and stickers on the back of the pagers were identical to those found on pagers manufactured by Gold Apollo. With a senior security source in Lebanon saying Hezbollah had recently placed an order for 5,000 pagers from Gold Apollo.
Hsu, Golden Apollo’s president, noted that the pagers that were used in the explosion were manufactured by a corporation located in Europe that was authorized to use the trademark of the Taiwanese company.
“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,” the company founder said, adding “We are a responsible company. This is very embarrassing.”
Former CIA analyst Mike Dimino of the US-based Defense Priorities has said to AFP that “without a doubt,” Israel owns one of the factories that “manufactured and shipped these explosive devices that exploded today.”
