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In Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, radio sets and solar panel equipment exploded on Wednesday in a second wave of attacks on devices, a day after pagers used by Hezbollah exploded, AP News reports. A Budapest-based company has also been linked to the case, with primary press reports suggesting that the Hungarian BAC Consulting may have manufactured the pagers. However, this was quickly disproved, and authorities are satisfied that the company concerned was a trading company with no manufacturing or production facilities in Hungary, with a single manager at the registered address, and that the devices in question had never been in the country.
The attacks, widely believed to have been carried out by Israel against Hezbollah, have heightened fears that the latent conflict between the two sides could escalate into all-out war.
During Wednesday’s attacks, several explosions were heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before,
according to Associated Press journalists on the scene.
Although the devices in question are made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, according to its logo, the company said on Wednesday that the pagers are manufactured and sold by a Budapest-based company, BAC Consulting, licensed to use the brand name.
However, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács stressed that the pagers supplied to Hezbollah were never in the country and that BAC Consulting was merely acting as an intermediary.
He added that the so-called “pager case” does not pose a national security risk for Hungary.
‼️ The Hungarian government’s position on the “pager issue”: authorities have confirmed 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…
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) September 18, 2024
Zoltán Kovács wrote on X that the Hungarian authorities are satisfied that the company in question is a dealer-intermediary company, has no manufacturing and production facilities in Hungary, has one main company director at the registered address, and the equipment in question has never been to Hungary. In the course of further investigations, the Hungarian national security services will cooperate with all relevant international partner services and partner organizations, the politician underlined.
The government’s statement was confirmed by Telex on Wednesday. According to the portal, BAC Consulting only acted as an intermediary in the deal.
“Sources familiar with the case have told us that BAC Consulting Chief Executive, Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, was in contact with a Bulgarian company, Norta Global Ltd, based in Sofia. In fact, Norta Global was behind the deal, although on paper BAC Consulting signed the contract with Gold Apollo,” wrote Telex. Based on the portal’s information
the pagers were not imported by BAC Consulting, but by the Bulgarian company from Taiwan. It was the Bulgarian company that supplied and sold the pagers to Hezbollah.
According to reports the Bulgarian company is in Norwegian ownership. The Bulgarian company was founded in April 2022. On paper, it is active in project management, but presumably does not manufacture anything.
Telex assumes that Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono only acted as an intermediary and that the Hungarian company was only needed to secure the Bulgarian side. The Chief Executive confirmed to NBC News that her company worked with Gold Apollo, but when asked about the pagers and the explosions, she said, “I do not make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong.”
Via AP News, MTI; Featured image via Pixabay