PHOTO - Facebook Telex.hu
BUDAPEST, September 19 - The pagers that exploded in Lebanon may have been bought from Taiwan's Gold Apollo by Bulgaria's Norta Global Ltd. and not by Hungary's BAC Consulting, according to Hungarian news portal Telex citing its sources.
According to his information, the Budapest-registered BAC Consulting served only as an intermediary with the Taiwanese company, while the Sofia-based company was directly involved in the purchase of the equipment. Telex insists that Norta Global Ltd. was "the one who arranged the delivery of the equipment and sold it to Hezbollah". According to the news portal, these devices "never been to Hungary".
Telex noted that the Bulgarian company was founded in 2022 and is owned by an unnamed Norwegian national. "On paper, he's in project management, but he's not supposed to produce anything," said the news portal. It noted that 196 other companies are registered at the same address. Telex pointed out that it is not yet known to what extent Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, the head of the Hungarian company, may have been aware of the activities of Norta Global Ltd., but insisted that BAC Consulting "was only needed to cover the Bulgarian thread".
Earlier, Reuters reported, citing its sources, that the Israeli intelligence service Mossad may have planted explosives in 5,000 pagers that the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah party ordered from the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. However, the company's founder and president, Hsu Ching-kuang, said Gold Apollo did not manufacture the devices that exploded in Lebanon. The company said Gold Apollo had authorised "for BAC to use our brand trademark to sell products in certain regions, but the design and manufacture of the products is handled exclusively by BAC".
Meanwhile, in an interview with NBC News, Barsony-Arcidiacono denied her company's involvement in the incident. She said the company does not manufacture any pagers, but serves as an intermediary.
Several explosions of communications equipment occurred in Lebanon on 17 and 18 September. On the first day, a large number of pagers exploded almost simultaneously in different areas of Lebanon. According to the country's Ministry of Health, 12 people were killed, including two children, and 2,800 others were hospitalized. The following day, a new wave of explosions swept through Lebanon. This time, walkie-talkies, phones, fingerprint scanners and solar and lithium-ion battery-powered devices exploded. At least 20 people were killed and 460 injured in the repeat attack.
TASS/ gnews - RoZ_07
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