Gold Apollo denies mass manufacturing pagers suspect of having link with Lebanon explosions

NEW TAIPEI: Taiwan’s Gold Apollo made it clear it never manufactured the pagers that detonated causing so many deaths in Lebanon Tuesday. Company founder Hsu Ching-Kuang appeared in a press briefing yesterday to assure everyone that the pagers – which so far have led to at least nine deaths and nearly 3,000 injuries – were not manufactured by Gold Apollo.

Investigations revealed the pagers of Hezbollah members were on simultaneously from head to toe throughout Lebanon. Photos provided to Reuters seemed to be part of a certain format and bear stickers compatible with Gold Apollo’s products. A senior Lebanese security source, however, said Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from the Taiwanese firm. Hsu reacted that the pagers involved were manufactured by a European firm licensed to sell under the Gold Apollo brand.

“The product was not ours. It only carried our brand,” Hsu explained, without revealing the name of the manufacturing company. He was apologetic of the incident and said, “We are a responsible company. This is very embarrassing for us.”

According to two sources close to Hezbollah operations, operatives had started using these pagers, thinking they would not be tracked by the Israelis.