Hsu Ching-kuang, founder and president of Gold Apollo, speaks to the media at their office in New Taipei City, Taiwan, September 18, 2024. REUTERS
A view of the Gold Apollo company sign at their office in New Taipei City, Taiwan, September 18, 2024. REUTERS
Pagers on display at a meeting room at the Gold Apollo company building in New Taipei City, Taiwan, September 18, 2024. REUTERS
People gather outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS
- Founder says pagers were made by BAC under licence
- Gold Apollo says not involved in the design or manufacturing of the product
NEW TAIPEI, Taiwan, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s Gold Apollo said on Wednesday the pagers that were used in the detonations in Lebanon on Tuesday were not made by it but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand.
At least nine people were
killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday.
Images of destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo.
“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,’ Gold Apollo founder and president, Hsu Ching-Kuang, told reporters at the company’s offices in the northern Taiwanese city of New Taipei on Wednesday.
The company said in a statement that the AR-924 model was produced and sold by BAC.
“We only provide brand trademark authorization and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product,” the statement said.
Hsu earlier said that the firm with the license was based in Europe but later declined to comment on BAC’s location.
While Hsu was meeting with reporters, police officials arrived at the company.
Hezbollah fighters began using pagers in the belief they would be able to evade Israeli tracking of their locations, two sources familiar with the group’s operations told Reuters this year.
Hsu said did not know how the pagers could have been rigged to explode.
Iran-backed Hezbollah said it was carrying out a “security and scientific investigation” into the causes of the blasts.
Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s detonations, according to a senior Lebanese security source and another source.
Hsu said Gold Apollo was also a victim of the incident.
“We may not be a large company but we are a responsible one,” he said. “This is very embarrassing.”
Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Tom Hogue, Michael Perry and Edwina Gibbs
