The pagers were sold to Hezbollah by a Bulgarian company, the Hungarian company was only used on paper

It was a company based in Sofia, Bulgaria, that bought the pagers which were eventually sold to Hezbollah from Taiwan, and the Hungarian company involved in the case did not actually do anything, the devices were never in Hungary, Telex has learned from sources familiar with the case. This latter information has since been officially confirmed by the Hungarian government as well. "The Hungarian authorities have established that the company in question is an intermediary company, that it has no manufacturing or production facilities in Hungary, it only has one manager at the address reported, and that the devices in question have never been in Hungary. The case does not pose a national security risk for Hungary" Zoltán Kovács, State Secretary for International Communications, announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Hundreds of Hezbollah militants were seriously injured in a series of mysterious explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday, when bombs hidden in pagers detonated. These are devices which have been replaced by mobile phones in most parts of the world long ago, but are still used in many places, such as hospitals. Members of Hezbollah also used them instead of telephones.

Hsu Ching-Kuang, the CEO of Gold Apollo which distributes the device, held a press conference on Wednesday, where he said that the AR-924 pagers ordered by Hezbollah were manufactured under license by a company called BAC. At first, Hsu only said that it was a European company with an office in Taipei, Taiwan, and that was all the company's first official statement revealed. Later, however, BAC Consulting Ltd. of Budapest was specifically named as the company responsible for the production and distribution of the pagers.

However, according to the sources of Telex, BAC Consulting Ltd. was simply an intermediary in the transaction. So much so that the company itself did not actually carry out any activities, it does not even have an office, it is only registered at the address of a headquarters service provider.

Sources with knowledge of the case told us that the managing director of BAC Consulting, Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, dealt with a Bulgarian company, Norta Global Ltd, based in Sofia. Although on paper it was BAC Consulting that signed the contract with Gold Apollo, Norta Global Ltd. was actually the one behind the deal.

According to our information, it was the Bulgarian company, not BAC Consulting, that imported the pagers from Taiwan, and the Bulgarian company was also the one that arranged the delivery of the equipment, and sold it to Hezbollah.

The Bulgarian company is owned by a Norwegian individual. Like the Hungarian firm, the Bulgarian company is registered to a headquarters service provider. There's a total of 196 companies in total registered at the provider's address. The Bulgarian company was founded in April 2022. On paper, it is engaged in project management, but it is presumed that it does not manufacture anything.

It is not yet known to what degree Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono may have been informed as an intermediary, but according to our information it is certain that she only acted as a middleman, and the Hungarian company was only needed to hide the Bulgarian thread.

As we have previously reported, the company is registered in an apartment building on Szőnyi Street, and according to its website it is a consultancy firm that on paper handles a wide variety of projects. Its activities range from newspaper publishing to oil production. The company has only been in business for two years, with a turnover of HUF 210 million and a profit of HUF 13 million last year.

The Hungarian woman has confirmed to NBC News that her company has indeed worked with Gold Apollo, but when asked about the pagers and the explosions, she said, "I don't make pagers. I'm just the middleman. I think you misunderstood the situation".

NBC has also reached out to Gold Apollo, but their spokesperson declined to comment beyond what was previously reported, citing the ongoing investigation.

According to the EU, Tuesday's explosions in Lebanon and Syria, which killed at least 12 people and injured thousands more, should be investigated.

"For the time being, we should not rush to conclusions. We know what happened, but the causes and how it happened are still to be investigated. We will be able to say more once we have evidence," said Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, at a press conference on Wednesday.

When asked if a Hungarian company supplying pagers to Hezbollah was compatible with EU sanctions, the spokesman said Hezbollah's military wing was on the EU sanctions lists, but it was up to companies involved in trade and member states to check that products included on the list of banned items did not fall into the wrong hands. "However, let me make it clear that if an organisation is classified as a terrorist organization, it means that its assets are frozen, it cannot be provided with financial resources and its members are subject to a travel ban," Stano added.

The Government's Information Centre (KTK) also reacted to the case in a reply sent to Hvg.hu, where they wrote: "There is freedom of enterprise in Hungary. The company in question has not received any assignment from the Hungarian government and has not sought the government's permission to do anything. The company is operating as a private enterprise."

According to leading international newspapers, the thousands of pagers ordered by the Lebanese militia/terrorist organisation Hezbollah were probably modified while in transit – each probably fitted with a small explosive device and a mechanism to trigger it.