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By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD (AA) - A Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo on Wednesday denied making pager devices that exploded in Lebanon.
In a statement, the company said Apollo Gold Corporation has established a long-term private label authorization and regional agency cooperation with BAC company, which has a license to use its brand.
"According to the agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC," it said.
The BAC Consulting KFT is based in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
"Regarding the recent media reports about the AR-924 pager, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC. We only provide brand trademark authorization and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product," it further said.
Earlier, the company founder Hsu Ching-kuang also denied any involvement of his company in making of the said pager.
The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad planted explosives in the batteries of pager devices that detonated Tuesday in Lebanon, killing nine people and injuring around 2,750 others, including 200 in critical condition, according to Sky News Arabia channel.
The New York Times, citing officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the pagers the Lebanese group ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan had been tampered with before arriving in Lebanon.
*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid