Taiwanese Minister: Components of pagers that exploded in Lebanon were not made in our country

Taiwan's Minister of Economy said on Friday that the components used to make thousands of pagers that exploded on Tuesday in Lebanon were not made in Taiwan. Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said this week that it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack but rather that they were manufactured by Budapest-based BAC, which has a license to use its brand. Taiwanese investigators searched four sites on Thursday as part of a local investigation into the source of the pagers that were in the possession of members of the Lebanese Hezbollah, and whose explosion on Tuesday killed at least 12 people and injured hundreds, in an operation attributed to Israel. Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that the pagers that exploded were made by its Hungarian partner, but Budapest said B.A.C Consulting, which was presented as producing the communication devices used by Hezbollah, was 'a commercial intermediary with no production site or operations in Hungary.' The New York Times reported Thursday that the Budapes t company 'was in fact part of an Israeli front,' according to three intelligence officials who were briefed on the operation. The officials explained that two other front companies were set up 'to hide the true identities of the people who manufactured the pagers, who were Israeli intelligence officers. Source: National Iraqi News Agency