Information obtained concerning the Taiwanese company implicated in Lebanon's pager explosion incident.
At the nondescript offices of Gold Apollo, situated on the outskirts of Taipei's capital on a Wednesday, Hsu Ching-kuang, the company's founder, vocalized his opposition to being implicated in the massive attack. He maintained that the pagers used were manufactures by a European firm that legally used his brand name.
"I absolutely feel like a target," Hsu shared with reporters just before police arrived to investigate. "For decades, I've been focusing on my own business. Why am I suddenly involved in this?"
Numerous photos from the previous day's attacks, indicating damaged pagers bearing the Gold Apollo logo, have escalated scrutiny towards the company. This intensified further after the New York Times disclosed, citing anonymous sources, that Israel allegedly concealed explosives within the devices and added a detonation switch in each one.
Pager production is tightly regulated in Taiwan due to its transmission abilities, with authorities frequently conducting inspections, a senior Taiwanese security official informed CNN on Wednesday.
Gold Apollo's pagers complied with all regulations, the official stated, adding that no unusual findings were made during the inspection. Authorities are also investigating the company's claim of outsourcing production to Europe, the official added.
Established in 1995, Gold Apollo has been producing a variety of devices from pagers – wireless devices capable of sending messages without an internet connection, commonly used by emergency services and hospitals – to buzzers for restaurants, according to the company's website.
The firm distributes its products globally, it stated in a previous media report, touting itself as one of the leading suppliers of walkie talkies and pagers in the US and Europe, boasting intelligence agencies and emergency services among its clients.
Hsu asserted that the pagers associated with the Lebanon media reports were manufactured and sold by a European partner, which established a relationship with his firm three years prior.
In a statement released later, Gold Apollo identified the distributor as Budapest–based BAC Consulting, stating that it had granted them the license to sell its products in designated regions.
"BAC is solely responsible for the design and manufacturing of the products," the statement read.
CNN encountered difficulties in contacting BAC via the website provided by Gold Apollo.
Exploding pagers
Photos circulating on social media from Lebanon appear to show at least one pager from the scene branded as the Gold Apollo AR924 model, described as a compact, waterproof device utilizing a rechargeable lithium battery, according to product information on the company's website.
Gold Apollo declared in its statement that the AR924 pager was manufactured and sold by BAC, covered under a licensing agreement. The company declined to share the contract with CNN.
Hsu confirmed that at the beginning of their relationship, the European partner solely imported Gold Apollo's pagers and communication products. Eventually, the partner requested permission to produce its own pagers and use the Gold Apollo brand, Hsu added.
Hsu mentioned that they encountered an anomaly in their dealings with the European company, referencing a delayed wire transfer.
"We may not be a major player, but we pride ourselves on responsibility," he said. "This is extremely humiliating."
According to Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, Gold Apollo exported approximately 260,000 pagers from Taiwan, primarily to the US and Australia, between January 2022 and August 2024.
Taipei has no record of exporting Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon, the ministry said in a statement, pledging to continue its investigation.
Low-tech devices
The AR924 model is not available in Taiwan, according to the senior Taiwanese security official. Taiwan's telecom companies ceased pager services in 2011, due to a significant decline in usage as mobile phones gained popularity.
The AR924 is not available in the US either, a representative from the company's US distributor informed CNN.
The low-tech nature of pagers seemed to appeal to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon.
At the start of the year, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah urged members and their families in the southern part of the country, where clashes with Israeli forces have escalated, to discard their cellphones, fearing Israel could track their movements through these devices.
Hsu launched Gold Apollo with TWD 100 million ($3.1 million) in capital in 1995, according to Taiwan's corporate registry.
At the time, pagers, known locally as "BB call," were the trend in Taiwan. However, phone companies discontinuing pager services prompted Gold Apollo to shift its focus towards overseas markets, Hsu told Taiwan's Commonwealth Magazine in a 2011 interview.
Gold Apollo quickly dominated pager markets in Western countries, the magazine reported. Most of the demand for its pagers came from intelligence agencies, firefighting services, and defense departments in the US and Europe, including the FBI, the report stated.
Despite the company's claims of outsourcing production to Europe, authorities are still investigating Gold Apollo's involvement in the explosive pager incidents. Hsu emphasized that his business, which has been producing various devices for decades, has always adhered to regulations and has a diverse clientele, including intelligence agencies and emergency services.
