The Labyrinth of Hezbollah’s Explosive Pager Origins

Hezbollah has suffered two series of explosions across Lebanon this week, killing at least 37 people and injuring thousands, in a “painful blow” to the Iran-backed militant group.

Hezbollah and Iran have accused Israel of being behind the two attacks on communications equipment, but Tel Aviv has neither confirmed nor denied the information. In addition to concerns about the risk of a full-scale conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, the question that many people are interested in now is the origin of the explosive devices.

Traces left by the explosion suggest that the pager used by Hezbollah was made by Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based company. However, the company has denied manufacturing the pagers. Gold Apollo said it licensed the product to BAC Consulting KFT. Headquartered in Hungary.

Taiwanese prosecutors began an investigation on September 18 to determine whether there was any connection between Gold Apollo and the series of explosions in Lebanon. A day later, security investigators summoned two executives from Gold Apollo and BAC Consulting KFT, which operates in Taiwan under the name Apollo Systems.

The offices of both companies at four locations in Taipei were searched the same day. Gold Apollo denied any involvement in the attacks.

“There is no specific evidence that any Taiwanese were involved in the series of explosions,” the prosecutor’s office said on September 20.

Apollo Systems has been renting a co-working space in Taipei since April for about $90 a month, according to Taiwan Asset Management Corp. The company registered its operations in Taiwan that same month, with businesses including telecommunications equipment sales, consulting and translation.

In Hungary, BAC Consulting KFT was registered in 2022 and has dozens of businesses ranging from selling telecommunications equipment to making computer games. Based in a quiet residential area of ​​Budapest, the company reported sales last year of around $600,000.

Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, 49, a dual Italian-Hungarian citizen, is the company’s sole representative here. A LinkedIn account for Bársony-Arcidiacono describes her as a “budgetary reviewer for the European Commission.” The account also says she interned at the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2008-2009. Bársony-Arcidiacono did not respond to a request for comment.

People who knew Bársony-Arcidiacono described her as mysterious, often appearing for a while and then disappearing. Some people who knew her in Budapest said Bársony-Arcidiacono loved to paint and traveled frequently and had not been seen since the beginning of the year.

By mid-week, the website of BAC Consulting KFT was down.

Zoltán Kovács, a Hungarian government spokesman, said BAC Consulting KFT was only a middleman. He said the company had no manufacturing facilities in Hungary and that the model of pager that exploded in Lebanon had never been seen in the Eastern European country.

Her mother, Beatrix Barsony-Arcidiacono, said her daughter had received threats and was “in a safe place, protected by Hungarian security”. “The authorities have advised my daughter not to speak to the media,” she said. Hungary’s national security services did not comment on the report.

The search for the person behind the manufacture and distribution of the pagers led to another company established in recent years. Hungarian media reported that a Bulgarian company, Norta Global Ltd, sold the exploded pagers to Hezbollah.

Bulgarian authorities immediately launched an investigation into the company, which was registered in Sofia by a Norwegian citizen in April 2022, a month before BAC Consulting KFT registered in Hungary. Since then, Norta Global has transferred a total of 1.6 million euros (about $1.8 million) to BAC Consulting KFT, according to people familiar with the Bulgarian investigation.

Bulgarian security services said on September 20 that no pagers similar to the model that exploded were produced, imported or exported in Bulgaria. They are still investigating whether the company had any connection to the attacks in Lebanon.

The company’s activity is listed in its registration documents as “technology project management”. However, Norta Globa appears to have little activity in Bulgaria.

The company does not list any employees and is registered to the same address in Sofia as 200 other companies. The company email address is from a free email provider in Bulgaria. The registered phone number is a Norwegian number and connects directly to voicemail.

Last year, the company had about $750,000 in revenue from consulting activities and was unprofitable, according to filing data.

The company’s website has been down since September 19. An archive of the site from days ago shows it advertised its services as consulting, technology integration, recruiting and outsourcing.

“Looking for a company that can help you succeed quickly or find the right technology solution? Look no further,” the ad on the website reads.

Bulgaria’s security service said the company had no financial activities that violated anti-terrorism laws and had no business dealings with individuals subject to sanctions.

Norta Global is run by Norwegian citizen Rinson Jose, according to company records. On a LinkedIn account with the same name, Jose describes himself as an entrepreneur at Oslo-based technology consulting firm NortaLink. A link to the company’s website is currently unavailable.

Oslo police said they have opened an investigation into the company. Neither Norta Global nor Jose responded to requests for comment.

The pagers and walkie-talkies were imported by Hezbollah five months ago, as the group sought more secure ways to communicate amid concerns that Israel had infiltrated Lebanon’s telecommunications system. One theory is that the shipment was intercepted and explosives were planted after it left the factory. Another suggests that Israel orchestrated the entire supply chain of the equipment. However, there is no evidence to support these theories.

Brussels-based political and military analyst Elijah Magnier said his sources in Lebanon said Hezbollah’s preliminary investigations indicated that the unexploded devices contained 1-3 grams of PETN, a highly explosive.

He added that the investigation also found that metal balls had been placed around the pager batteries, which would have caused metal fragments to be thrown out when they exploded, “significantly increasing the level of injury”.

However, where and when these devices were manufactured remains an unanswered question.

“In this globalized marketplace, it can sometimes be difficult to find out exactly where something came from,” said Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in the US.