Icom, a Japanese based telecommunications manufacturer, had to come out and clarify that the IC-V82 walkie talkies that exploded in Beirut this week had been discontinued since 2014. The walkie-talkies were part of a second wave of explosions, after a first wave of pager explosions killed 12 and injured over 2500 people.
Pictures circulating of the walkie-talkie showed a “Made in Japan” label, which prompted the manufacturer to clarify that they stopped producing these models a decade ago. It’s still not clear though how these walkie-talkies were intercepted, filled with explosives and shipped to Lebanon. As far as the pagers are concerned, it’s almost confirmed now that a shady Hungarian-based company called BAC Consulting, which had a licensing agreement from Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, had rigged the pagers.
