European pager manufacturer was Israeli shell company - report
Yesterday the Hungary-based firm BAC Consulting was under scrutiny after a Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, accused it of manufacturing the pagers that exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday.
BAC's chief executive denied the allegations, but now the
New York Times reports it was an Israeli shell company.
It was one of at least three shell companies created to mask the identities of Israeli intelligence officers creating the pagers, the news outlet said, citing three intelligence officers briefed on the operation.
BAC took ordinary clients as well as Hezbollah but the group's pagers were produced separately, containing batteries laced with the explosive PETN, the officers said.
Israel would then trigger the pagers with a message in Arabic that looked as if it had come from Hezbollah's senior leadership.
Production was ramped up after Hezbollah got rid of its mobile phones, when its leader warned Israel was using them to gather intelligence on the group.
The three intelligence officials told the NYT that Israel had invested millions in developing technology to hack them.