Gold Apollo says Budapest-based BAC produces model of pagers used in Lebanon blasts

By Ben Blanchard

NEW TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) -The model of pagers used in detonations in Lebanon were made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting, Taiwanese pager firm Gold Apollo said on Wednesday, adding it had only licensed out its brand to the company and was not involved in the production of the devices.

At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday. According to a senior Lebanese security source and another source, explosives inside the devices were planted by Israel's Mossad spy agency.

Images of destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by 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.

Gold Apollo authorised "BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC," the statement said.

Reuters calls and emails to BAC on Wednesday morning were not answered.

Hsu said earlier there had been problems with remittances from the firm.

"The remittance was very strange," he said, adding that payments had come through the Middle East. He did not elaborate further.

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 he did not know how the pagers could have been rigged to explode.

While Hsu was meeting with reporters, police officials arrived at the company. Officials from Taiwan's economy ministry also visited Gold Apollo.

The ministry said in a statement that there was no record of direct pager exports from Taiwan to Lebanon.

Hsu also said Gold Apollo was a victim of the incident and planned to sue the licensee.

"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 Michael Perry and Edwina Gibbs)