Intelligence officials in Hungary have concluded several interviews with the CEO of BAC Consulting, the Budapest-based company that has been linked to last week’s incident in Lebanon involving exploding pagers belonging to the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia.
On September 18, the firm’s owner and CEO, Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, told NBC News her business did not fabricate the suspect inventory, but she did function as an “intermediate” for the transaction.
The 49-year-old Italian-Hungarian’s claims were supported by government authorities in Budapest, who released a statement on Wednesday describing BAC as "a trading-intermediary company, which has no manufacturing or other site of operation in Hungary."
The compromised devices were reportedly purchased by the terror group from BAC, a vendor that distributed the products under a license from the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Gold Apollo.
Barsony-Arcidiacono’s mother, Beatrix Barsony-Arcidiacono, told The Associated Press Friday that her daughter is currently receiving protection from the Hungarian Secret Service and has been told not to speak with the media.
The Tuesday pager attacks, purportedly organized by Israel’s clandestine services, killed at least 30 members of Hezbollah and injured more than 2,800.
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