Lebanon bans pagers and walkie-talkies on planes after bombing targeting Hezbollah members



The Lebanese General Authority for Civil Aviation has announced that it will ban pagers and walkie-talkies in both checked and carry-on baggage on flights departing from Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport. Such devices will be confiscated during security checks at the airport.

Lebanon bans pagers and walkie-talkies on flights
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1qaq00kp0

At around 15:30 local time on September 18, 2024, a pager explosion in Lebanon killed at least eight people and injured more than 2,700. Many of the injured are believed to be members of Hezbollah , a Lebanese Shiite Islamist militant group.

Simultaneous pager explosion kills eight people and injures more than 2,700 - GIGAZINE


by Hades2k

Photos of the pager that exploded in Lebanon were widely circulated on social media, and lettering on the debris identified it as a pager made by Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co., Ltd. Reports have estimated that at least 3,000 pagers exploded in Lebanon.




Gold Apollo founder Xu Qingguang told Reuters in an interview that the company had nothing to do with the bombing attack . Xu said that the pager that exploded was manufactured under a license granted to a Hungarian company called BAC Consulting, and that Gold Apollo had been doing business with BAC Consulting for about three years. However, Xu said that it was a strange transaction in that the money was sent via the Middle East, even though BAC Consulting is a Hungarian company.




Reuters has been trying to locate BAC Consulting's headquarters, but a person inside the building said the company is 'registered at this address, but does not exist there.' The company's website was also down as of September 18.

'The authorities can confirm that the company in question is a trade intermediary and has no manufacturing or operational bases in Hungary. There is only one administrator registered at the declared address and the devices in question have never been present in Hungary,' Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on Twitter.




'We don't make pagers. We are an intermediary and I think you have a wrong understanding,' BAC Consulting CEO Cristiana Bartholomew Arcidiacono told Sky News. 'We don't make pagers. We are an intermediary and I think you're wrong.'

The New York Times reports that BAC Consulting is a 'dummy company established by Israel in Hungary.' According to reports, BAC Consulting has targeted Hezbollah from the beginning, and began exporting products to Lebanon around the summer of 2022. It increased its exports after Hezbollah leader Nasrallah decided in February 2024 to refrain from using mobile phones in preparation for Israeli cyber attacks.

The pager explosion was followed by a walkie-talkie explosion the day after, killing at least 14 people and injuring at least 450. The walkie-talkies reportedly included IC-V82 radios manufactured by ICOM , a Japanese radio manufacturer.

14 killed in walkie-talkie explosion believed to have targeted Hezbollah members, Israeli attack?



In response to this report, ICOM issued the following statement: 'The IC-V82 is a handheld radio that we produced and shipped to overseas markets, including the Middle East, from 2004 to October 2014. Sales of this product were discontinued approximately 10 years ago, and we have not shipped any products from our headquarters since then. Production of the batteries needed to power the device has also been discontinued, and the product does not have a hologram sticker to prevent counterfeiting, so we are unable to confirm whether it was a product shipped by our company.'

Regarding some reports (second report) | News Release | ICOM
https://www.icom.co.jp/news/8108/

It has also been reported that Iranian political scientist Seyyed Mohammad Marandi said, 'Do not trust battery-embedded products supplied through the supply chain from Western countries, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. They could become weapons for you, your family, and those around you. Do not buy products from these countries.'




An investigation into the exploded device is currently underway, but it is proving difficult as most of the device was destroyed in the explosion.

In response to these developments, Lebanon's General Authority for Civil Aviation has banned the carrying of pagers and walkie-talkies on aircraft, as these devices are likely to explode.

Lebanon's Minister of Health Firas Al Abiad reported on Thursday, September 19, 2024 (local time) that the death toll from the explosion had reached 32.

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