What was Hungarian company's role in manufacturing pagers that exploded in Lebanon?

After a Taiwanese brand alleged that thousands of pagers that exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least 12 and wounding thousands more, were manufactured in Hungary, the government in Budapest quickly refuted these claims.

Experts believe that explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration operation, but it is not clear where or by whom they were manufactured and shipped to Lebanon and Syria.

The Taiwanese company whose brand the devices carried, Gold Apollo, said on Wednesday that it merely authorised the use of its name on the AR-924 pagers and that the devices were made by Budapest-based firm BAC Consulting KFT.

But in a post on X, government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs wrote that the Budapest's position is that "the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary. It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary."

"During further investigations, Hungarian national security services are cooperating with all relevant international partner agencies and organisations," he wrote.

However, NBC News later quoted BAC Consulting Chief Executive Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono as denying any role in the pagers' production.

"I don't make the pagers," she told the network. "I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong."

Euronews has not heard back from BAC since approaching the company for comment on Wednesday morning.

What happened?

The question of the pagers' manufacture is crucial to explaining what happened in Lebanon on Tuesday.

At about 3:30 pm on Tuesday, a large number of pagers exploded almost simultaneously across the country.

As people shopped for groceries, sat in cafés or drove cars and motorcycles, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

At least 12 people were killed, among them two children, and according to Lebanon’s Health Minister, Firass Abiad, at least 200 of the 2,750-odd injured were left in critical condition. Others mostly suffered injuries to their faces and hands, and some required amputations.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for what appears to have been a sophisticated remote attack. Israel has so far declined to comment on the allegations, and the US has denied any involvement.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.

Claim and counter-claim

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said that from the beginning of 2022 until August 2024, Gold Apollo exported 260,000 sets of pagers, including more than 40,000 sets between January and August of this year.

The ministry said the pagers were exported mainly to European and American countries, and that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon.

Yet according to Gold Apollo, it is not in fact the manufacturer.

"According to the cooperation agreement, we authorise 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," the Taiwanese company said in a statement.

The company's chair, Hsu Ching-kuang, told journalists on Wednesday that the firm has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years.

According to specifications advertised on Gold Apollo's website before it was apparently taken down after Tuesday's attack, the "rugged" AR-924 pager contains a rechargeable lithium battery.

The pager can receive texts of up to 100 characters and was also promoted as having up to 85 days of battery life. That would be a major asset in Lebanon, where electricity outages have become common after years of economic strife.

Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.

Hezbollah viewed the pagers as a means to sidestep what is believed to be an intensive Israeli electronic surveillance effort across Lebanese mobile phone networks.

"The phone that we have in our hands — I do not have a phone in my hand — is a listening device," warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a February speech.

He later added: "I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife's hands, and in your children's hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it."