Devices used in Lebanon attack made by European distributor, Taiwanese pager manufacturer says
The pagers used to attack members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah were made by a European distributor for manufacturer Gold Apollo, according to the Taiwanese company’s chairperson.
Israel hid explosives inside a batch of pagers ordered from Gold Apollo and destined for Hezbollah, according to the New York Times.
Multiple images from Lebanon shared on social media appear to show damaged Gold Apollo pagers. CNN cannot geolocate the images but has verified they were published on Tuesday, the same day as the explosions. At least one pager shown in the images was a Gold Apollo AR924 model.
Gold Apollo founder and chairperson Hsu Ching-kuang told reporters on Wednesday that his firm had signed a contract with a European distributor to use the Gold Apollo brand.
Hsu said the distributor, which he did not name, established a relationship with Gold Apollo about three years ago.
At first, the European company only imported Gold Apollo’s other pager and communication products, he said. Later, the company told Gold Apollo they wanted to make their own pagers and asked for the right to use the Taiwanese company’s brand, he said.
Hsu said Gold Apollo had encountered at least one anomaly in its dealings with the distributor, citing a wire transfer that took a long time to clear.
Taiwan has no record of Gold Apollo pagers being shipped to Lebanon or the Middle East, a senior Taiwanese security official told CNN on Wednesday. Gold Apollo shipped about 260,000 pagers from Taiwan, mostly to the United States and Australia, the official told CNN.
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