BUDAPEST, Hungary — In a duplex in a quiet neighborhood of the Hungarian capital is the headquarters of a company that is linked to the manufacture of the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria as part of an apparent Israeli operation against the Hezbollah militant group.
BAC Consulting shares the ground floor of the modest building in Budapest with other enterprises. On Wednesday morning, Associated Press journalists saw the names of multiple companies, including BAC, posted on pieces of printer paper and taped in a window.
In a corporate registry, the company listed 118 official functions, including sugar and oil production, retail jewelry sales and natural gas extraction.
BAC reportedly supplied the thousands of devices that killed at least 12 people, including two children, and wounded about 2,800 on Tuesday in a coordinated attack that Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed on Israel.
More attacks were reported Wednesday, when walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in multiple parts of Lebanon. The second wave of attacks killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 450, the Health Ministry said.
The Taiwanese company whose brand appears on the pagers, Gold Apollo, said Wednesday that it had authorized the use of its name on the devices.
BAC was authorized ''to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,'' Gold Apollo said in a statement.
A Hungarian government spokesman said the pagers were never in Hungary and that BAC Consultants merely acted as an intermediary.
