What we know about the Hezbollah pagers that exploded in Lebanon
A Hungarian official told CBS News Thursday that a Bulgaria-based company had purchased pagers from Taiwan that were eventually sold to Hezbollah, before exploding in the hands, pockets and bags of thousands of the Iran-backed militant group's members earlier this week in Lebanon.
Hungarian outlet Telex had reported Wednesday that a Sofia-based company called Norta Global Ltd. Was behind a deal to sell the pagers and that a Hungarian firm connected with the transaction had not manufactured or sold the pagers. A Hungarian official told CBS News those reports were accurate.
The new information about the origin of the exploding pagers came a day after Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said it had authorized the use of its trademarked branding on the pagers that exploded Tuesday across Lebanon and Syria, but that the devices were actually manufactured and sold by Bac Consulting KFT — a company based in Budapest, Hungary.
Thousands of pagers held by Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 2,750, according to Lebanon's public health minister.
"We authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC," Gold Apollo said in a statement posted on its website. "Regarding the AR-924 pager model mentioned in the recent media reports [about Lebanon], we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC."
Gold Apollo's founder and CEO Hsu Ching-kuang told NPR on Wednesday that "there was nothing in those devices that we had manufactured or exported to them [BAC]."
The pagers "were entirely different" from Gold Apollo's designs and used a chip that Gold Apollo does not use in its own models, Hsu said.
Hsu told NPR that Gold Apollo's relationship with Bac Consulting began three years ago, and he described the Hungarian company's money transfers as "strange."
Bac Consulting had paid Gold Apollo from a Middle Eastern bank account that was blocked at least once by Gold Apollo's Taiwanese bank, Hsu said.
"It was very inconvenient," he told NPR, adding: "You have to deal with these risks when doing global trade."
In a post on Wednesday on social media, Zoltan Kovács, the spokesperson for the Hungarian prime minister's office, said Bac Consulting "is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary. It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary."
"During further investigations, Hungarian national security services are cooperating with all relevant international partner agencies and organizations," Kovács said.
Business records accessed by CBS News from Hungary's Ministry of Justice show that Bac Consulting was registered as a company in May 2022.
Separate records reviewed by CBS News show that Norta Global Ltd. was registered as a company in Bulgaria in April 2022, with its sole owner listed as a Norwegian citizen named Rinson Jose. Global Norta is described on its website — which has since been taken offline — as offering a range of services "from outsourcing, consulting, tech and payment integration, analysis, promotion of techno products and services, as well as the estimation and processing of relevant commercial transactions."
Images circulated widely on social media showed the explosions hitting seemingly unsuspecting Hezbollah members across Lebanon. The CBS News Confirmed team has verified the location of one video showing a man's bag exploding as he looks over fruit on display at a supermarket in Lebanon's capital city of Beirut. There were a number of other shoppers around him, but none appeared to be affected by the explosion at his hip.
A statement released by Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed militant group and political faction based in Lebanon, confirmed that the pager explosions had targeted their members. It laid the blame firmly on Israel, vowing a "harsh response that the criminal enemy must await for the massacre it committed."
It remains unclear exactly how many Hezbollah pagers exploded on Tuesday. But a senior Lebanese security official and another source told the Reuters news agency that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency had planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 of the devices, which it said were ordered by Hezbollah months before the blasts.
The devices were brought "into the country [Lebanon] in the spring," the security source told Reuters.
A delegation of Israeli lawmakers had visited Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in April, with the intention of "leveraging our industrial strengths and continuing to deepen our partnership," according to a statement released by the Taiwanese president's office at the time.
While Israeli officials have not commented publicly on the explosions, a U.S. official told the AP that Israel had briefed the U.S. about the operation Tuesday after its conclusion. American officials have said the U.S. had no prior knowledge of the operation and no involvement in it.
Bac Consulting and its mysterious CEO
CBS News has asked Bac Consulting in Budapest to comment on where and how its devices are manufactured and sold, but had not received an answer either over the phone or via email by the time of publication.
The company's LinkedIn profile does not mention manufacturing services, describing its work as "business consulting and services."
The company's listed CEO is Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono. Her personal LinkedIn profile says she's done work for a number of organizations, including work with the European Union Commission, UNESCO, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Barsony-Aricidiacono has reposted on her LinkedIn profile conspiracy theories about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy and COVID-19 vaccines. She also reposted a video from a Turkish photographer that appeared to express support for the people of Gaza.
In one post, Barsony-Aricidiacono claimed Bac Consulting could help clients secure EU funding for green energy projects.
CBS News has reviewed business records that showed that Barsony-Aricidiacono had registered another company under her name in France, in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. The documents describe the business as a company that "specialized in the sector of business consulting and other activities."
The company was registered in December 2015 and dissolved in September 2016, the records showed.
On Barsony-Arcidiacono's LinkedIn profile, she describes herself as working as a "Scientific & Strategic Advisor" over a 12 year period from January 2012 to the present and claims she's worked in "Paris, Budapest, London, NYC, Africa, Peru, Argentina, Indonesia, ME [Middle East]."
The AR-924 pager model was advertised by Gold Apollo as a "rugged" device. They require a lithium battery, according to advertising of the product on Gold Apollo's website. That advertising has been removed from the Taiwanese company's website.